Rules on receiving a ball at the base

[02Crush]

The pitcher pitches ball
Catcher receives and sees runner stealing 3rd
3rd baseman runs back to bag and places feet straddling the bag (homeplate side & outfield side towards the the 2nd base side) The baserunner can slide between her legs to be safe with full access to 3rd base.

The throw arrives, 3rd baseman catches and tags runner on shins as she is sliding. Field Umpire comes over....looks and call runner safe. I call time and ask about it. He tells me 3rd basemen was blocking the bag and that she cannot be in position around the bag until she has posession of the ball. I asked if the tag beat the runner arrivign at the base. He said yes. I said she was involved in making a play on the stealing runner. He told me she must have posession to be considered involved in the play. Is this correct? I am wanting to better understand the ruling. How can a defeisive player be prepared to defend a steal if she cannot get in position at the base to do so when the ball is coming to her?

 

[Comp]

A defensive player not in posession of the ball, and not making a play on a batted ball may not hinder an offensive runner. Even though the player may have been straddling the bag and giving the runner access to the front edge of it, that can be considered obstruction. If the umpire felt the runner was hindered, the correct call would have been obstruction.

Wasnt there to see how the umpire called the play, but the correct way it should have been called is an extended left arm with a verbal obstruction. Since the runner was tagged out, the umpire should then have called the ball dead, announced again he had obstruction on the play and awarded the runner the base he felt they would have safely attained absent the obstruction.

 

[coach james]

Gray area... I agree with your dispute. IMO if the bag is not blocked prior to possession, that's legal. However, this rule is subject to the umpires interpretation.
BTW, This is the exact same way I teach my infielders to cover a bag... (toes pointed at the runner with feet straddling the bag) A minor adjustment of offsetting one foot to behind the bag could be made if the umpires are calling this obstruction. If there's time once the baseman has received the ball then she could move her foot back, but honestly there probably wont be...

 

[MTR]

Speaking ASA, NFHS, ISF (not NCAA)

Point: There is no rule against blocking a base with or without the ball.

The rule is that a defender not in POSSESSION of the ball or fielding a batted ball cannot hinder or impede the progress of the runner in any way.

The fact that the defender was around the base without the ball is not a violation of any rule, nor is it obstruction. It WOULD be obstruction if the umpire determined the defender's presence caused the runner to slow down or deviate from the path the runner elected to take and the runner may take any path they please and not necessarily to the edge of the base facing them. Maybe the defender's presence caused the runner to slide when she did not want to slide. That would be obstruction.


It is completely up to the judgment of the umpire to determine whether the runner was obstructed or not.

A little side note: For OBS to be properly ruled upon, something must occur within a reasonable area where a possible play may occur. A runner approaching a base or simply running and being cause to change paths due to the presence of a defender in the immediate area is obstruction. A runner rounding a base and choosing not to advance because a defender may be in a potential base path 50-60 feet away is not obstruction, just an option selected by the runner to not advance.

 

[Ajaywill]

To add...just because the fielder is "allowing access" to a part or portion of the base, does not preclude an obstruction call. As MTR said, the runner may take any path to the base that s/he pleases and is not limited to the part of the base s/he is being "allowed access" to.

 

[softballphreak]

Since there seems to be such a wide range of discretion I'd just play the bag as the OP described and hope the umpire uses common sense along with the letter of the rule. Instead of giving up the base to the runner I'll take a chance on the umpire taking it away.

 

[Comp]

Why not eliminate the chance of the umpire calling obstruction, station F5 just to the front and inside the bag and teach them to lay down a swipe tag in front of the base?

 

[Greenmonsters]

Why not eliminate the chance of the umpire calling obstruction, station F5 just to the front and inside the bag and teach them to lay down a swipe tag in front of the base?

Because a good runner will fade or slide by, avoid the swipe tag, and get the back corner safely. Why not eliminate the possibility of the runner being safe by teaching umpires to understand that straddling the bag on a close play when the runner will be sliding is not obstruction?

 

[Comp]

Because a good runner will fade or slide by, avoid the swipe tag, and get the back corner safely. Why not eliminate the possibility of the runner being safe by teaching umpires to understand that straddling the bag on a close play when the runner will be sliding is not obstruction?

And you do understand that there is no rule requiring the runner to slide? And Im not talking 5' in front of the bag. A fielder can easily reach the back side of a 15" base from a foot in front of it.

 

[Ajaywill]

.... teaching umpires to understand that straddling the bag on a close play when the runner will be sliding is not obstruction?

You're right...unless that positioning of the fielder who doesn't have the ball hinders or impedes the runner on her chosen path to the base.....