Obstruction?

[mmeece]

Had a situation the other day under NFHS rule set. BR hits grounder to F6 who does not field cleanly and rushes throw to F3 to retire BR. Throw is very high and F3 leaps straight up to try to catch ball. If F3 had been able to reach throw, it would have been in plenty of time to retire BR. However, F3 did NOT catch throw from F6 and BR collides with her at the base as F3 returns to ground without possession of the ball. The two end up in a pile on the ground, the ball rolls to the fence where it was eventually retrieved by F9. BR would have easily made it to 2B had there been no collision.

I ruled obstruction and awarded 2B. Had a post-game break down with other umpires who happened to be at the game. The consensus among them was that they would not have called it obstruction but rather incidental contact. I stand by my interpretation and ruling, but wonder what others have to say.

They were wrong in my opinion. I had a similar play with F3 reaching across the path of the BR to make the catch, but she missed the ball. If she makes the catch then it's an out and she has the ball, so no obstruction. But, if she blocks the path of the BR without the ball and impedes her progress to the next base I don't see any way to NOT call obstruction. I don't know how you could say it's just incidental contact if the runner was prevented from advancing to the next base.