Obstruction Rule on a Steal?

[Comp]

We had a base umpire try to move our F4 before the play began. He stated she was "standing on the base path". We argued that the runner creates the path and told her not to move. He waited till the next pitch, called obstruction and then moved the runner on 1st to 2nd.

Defense can be wherever they like, and a SS playing normal position, even if they are directly in the basepath isnkt hindering a runner at the release of the pitch. Also, obstruction is never an automatic base award, even if the runner is obstructed the award is the base the runner would have reached absent the obstruction. Could be the base they came from, could be one or more ahead.

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[ScottyDont]

I find that hard to buy unless F3 was 3-5 feet from 1B in a direct line from the runner to 2B. But that is irrelevant to the OBS.

As Comp noted, if the runner is impeded by F3 while not fielding a batted ball, and the runner did not go out of her was to draw an OBS call, a delayed dead ball should be signaled (for the OBS) and any awards would be made after all obvious play is finished and/or the ball becomes dead.

Please note, the award may be 1B if the umpire judged that the runner would not have safely reached 2B had the OBS not occurred.

I don't know where F3 was in relation to the runner, just what call was made. Runner was out at second on the throw by two steps, but given the base with the OBS call.