Interference after deflection?

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Dec 15, 2018
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USA/ASA, 10U. Runner on 2b, batter hits hard grounder to pitcher, deflects off her glove towards SS who attempts to field the grounder.

Now, last night in our game, the runner managed to avoid the SS (but it was close), but let's say they did make contact - does the deflection negate an interference? Or could it possibly even be obstruction in that case?
 
Jun 22, 2008
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In USA once the ball has been deflected the runner must be judged to have done something intentional to be called for interference.

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May 29, 2015
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Didn’t we just do this play? Maybe it was another forum I recently joined ...

The interference rule protects the fielder — ANY fielder — on her/his initial play on the ball. The key there is that it is not THE initial play. If the SS is making her first play on the ball, regardless of what happened before, she has a right to make that play.

Now, say the ball is hit to the the SS and she makes a misplay. I’ll have to double check the wording and other rule sets, but I believe in USA Softball (EDITED TO ADD: it is actually NFHS, I had it backwards) she is protected for another “step and reach” to try to recover. That means she can make a step forward, backward, or to one side and reach for the ball. Beyond that she is no longer protected and must yield to the runner.

It is different than the ball hitting the runner, though many people default to that application in error.
 
Last edited:
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
Didn’t we just do this play? Maybe it was another forum I recently joined ...

The interference rule protects the fielder — ANY fielder — on her/his initial play on the ball. The key there is that it is not THE initial play. If the SS is making her first play on the ball, regardless of what happened before, she has a right to make that play.

Now, say the ball is hit to the the SS and she makes a misplay. I’ll have to double check the wording and other rule sets, but I believe in USA Softball she is protected for another “step and reach” to try to recover. That means she can make a step forward, backward, or to one side and reach for the ball. Beyond that she is no longer protected and must yield to the runner.

It is different than the ball hitting the runner, though many people default to that application in error.
Initial play and step and reach are not part of USA rules, that is nfhs and usssa. In USA softball once the ball has been deflected the runner must be judged to have done something intentional to be called for interference.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
May 16, 2012
97
18
Missouri
Didn’t we just do this play? Maybe it was another forum I recently joined ...

The interference rule protects the fielder — ANY fielder — on her/his initial play on the ball. The key there is that it is not THE initial play. If the SS is making her first play on the ball, regardless of what happened before, she has a right to make that play.

Now, say the ball is hit to the the SS and she makes a misplay. I’ll have to double check the wording and other rule sets, but I believe in USA Softball she is protected for another “step and reach” to try to recover. That means she can make a step forward, backward, or to one side and reach for the ball. Beyond that she is no longer protected and must yield to the runner.

It is different than the ball hitting the runner, though many people default to that application in error.
Only NFHS has step and reach, that I'm aware of.
 
Jun 22, 2008
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Usssa also uses initial play and step and reach

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Nov 18, 2015
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113
USSSA doesn't seem to use the phrase "any fielder" in regards to the initial play. They define "Initial Play" as:
"when the fielder has a reasonable chance to gain control of a ground ball that no other fielder (except the pitcher) has touched or a reasonable chance to catch the ball in flight after it touches another fielder. The fielder is still considered to be making an initial play if the fielder fails to gain control of the batted ground ball and is within a step and a reach (in any direction) of the spot of the initial play." --Sect. 3. Definitions, pg. 22, USSSA 14th Edition, 2-18 Online revision
(My note - I assumed the step and reach was the distance of the ball from the fielder. But re-reading it - it doesn't say anything about the ball. It's if the FIELDER is still within a step and a reach of the spot of the initial play.)
 

MTR

Jun 22, 2008
3,438
48
Didn’t we just do this play? Maybe it was another forum I recently joined ...

The interference rule protects the fielder — ANY fielder — on her/his initial play on the ball. The key there is that it is not THE initial play. If the SS is making her first play on the ball, regardless of what happened before, she has a right to make that play.

Now, say the ball is hit to the the SS and she makes a misplay. I’ll have to double check the wording and other rule sets, but I believe in USA Softball she is protected for another “step and reach” to try to recover. That means she can make a step forward, backward, or to one side and reach for the ball. Beyond that she is no longer protected and must yield to the runner.

It is different than the ball hitting the runner, though many people default to that application in error.

"initial play" and "step and reach" is not included in USA terminology.
 

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