Funny I've been in softball from 10U all the way up to gold ball and I have never seen an obstruction call made without "contact".
Maybe you have bad umpires in your area or maybe they've called it and you just didn't notice. But the actual rule straight from the rule book says that contact is NOT a requirement for obstruction.
The whole intent of the obstruction rule is to reward an extra base to the runner that is obstructed by a fielder not involved in a play or blocking a bag before the fielder has the ball.
This is incorrect. There is no automatic base award associated with obstruction. Plus, whether or not the fielder is "involved in a play" or not has no bearing on an obstruction call.
..as I stated before obstruction is a penalty on the defense and an extra base awarded to the offense (if said runner trys to advance to the next base which most people forget ...you cant just stop at 1st base because there was obstruction and expect the umpire to award the extra base ...doesn't work that way)
Again, there is no extra base award. And there is absolutely NO requirement that the runner must "try to advance" before any bases will be awarded.
Obstructed runners can be awarded whichever or any number of bases that the umpire judges they would have reached had they not been obstructed. They might even been awarded "no" extra bases, depending on if the umpire judges they would have safely reached the next base or not.