It's not Comp's interpretation. It's the official interpretation that is supported by the rules and case plays in NFHS and USA. FWIW, the NCAA has the same interpretation.Where I am having a problem with Comp’s interpretation...
Now you're using your interpretation of the Exception to the between-bases obstruction rule, and it conflicts with what is written in that Exception. Again, here is what it says in NFHS:...is in saying the runner is “still between the two bases”. I don’t consider her to ”still be between the two bases” when she has safely returned to third base and stopped. She is on third base. (Note: “still” is not in the rule either way.)
USA's Exception is practically the same:1. When an obstructed runner, after the obstruction, safely obtains or returns to the base she would have been awarded, in the umpire's judgment, had there been no obstruction and there is a subsequent play on a different runner, the obstructed runner is no longer protected between the bases where she was obstructed and may be put out.
So when this runner returns to third base safely and stops, she has met the first part of this Exception that says, "When an obstructed runner, after the obstruction, safely obtains or returns to the base she would have been awarded." Your statement that you don't consider her to "still be between the two bases" is immaterial. She has stopped on third safely, meeting the first part of the Exception.A. When an obstructed runner, after the obstruction, safely obtains the base they would have been awarded, in the umpire's judgment, had there been no obstruction and there is a subsequent play on a different runner. ... EFFECT A-C: The obstructed runner is no longer protected between the bases where obstructed and may be put out.
Now, how does she lose that protection that is afforded to her? The Exception clearly tells us. It's when the defense makes "a subsequent play on a different runner." Without that subsequent play on a different runner, she maintains her protection. It doesn't go away when they make a subsequent play on her after she leaves third base and tries for home. She can leave that base all she wants and try for home, and if she doesn't make it, she goes back to third. You may not like that, but that's exactly the correct interpretation.
BTW, I screwed up this call in an NCAA game a couple of years ago, and my assignor who watched the streamed coverage of the game told me later. Runners at first and third bases, and the batter hit a single to right. R3 scored, R1 tried to advance to third, and F9's throw was in the dirt to the home plate side of third. R1 slid in safely as F5 dove to her right to field the throw, but it got by her and went toward the fence. R1 got up and tripped over F5 as she thought about advancing to home. But the throw was backed up by F1, so R1, back on the ground between third and home after tripping on F5, scrambled back to the bag safely.
I was U3 and made the obstruction call when F1 tripped on F5. I watched as F1 fielded the loose ball, and then headed back toward the circle. By then, the BR was safely at second base on the errant throw. As F1 neared the circle, the third base coach told her runner to take off for home. The runner came off the base a few steps to home, then looked at her coach as if wondering why he was sending her. F1 turned and threw the ball to F5, who tagged the runner out. I made the out call. The coach argued that the runner was protected, and I said she was until the defense made a subsequent play on her. He said I was wrong and to ask my partners. I did, and we said the out stood. He wasn't happy, but he never protested.
He should have. Afterward, my assignor told me the call was incorrect, and that I should have returned her back to third since the defense never made a subsequent play on the other runner at second base. So I learned my lesson.
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