ruling ?

[leechristensen]

scenario runner on 3rd, 1 out batter has a 1 ball 1 strike count. batter hits a pop up( probably 5 feet foul and close to 3rd base) runner on 3rd took her lead and realized the ball was popped up and was going to be caught started running back to 3rd base. 3rd base fielder moves to make a catch and runs into baserunner heading back to 3rd. she would of made the catch easily. whats the ruling and whats the count on the batter? this was a 12u rec asa game.

 

[TimothyJ]

Offensive interference I would think

Edited to add: Runner is out. Not sure about whether it's ruled a foul ball or not as well

 

[David Carter]

Sounds like interference to me the runner can not interfere with the defensive player trying to catch the ball.

Ruling should be runner is out, a strike is called, the ball is dead and batter remains at bat (this is right out of PONY rules as a point of emphasis, we are about 99% in conjunction with ASA so I am guessing it would be the same)

 

[Comp]

In ASA, if it is a pop up in infield, fair or foul that can be caught with normal effort and the fielder is interferred with, both the runner and the batter are out.

 

[CoogansBluff]

In ASA, if it is a pop up in infield, fair or foul that can be caught with normal effort and the fielder is interferred with, both the runner and the batter are out.

Otherwise the runner could purposely cause interference to avoid being doubled up at third.

 

[David Carter]

Which is why I guess I said we are 99% in compliance not sure why PONY would chose to do it different in this case.

Upon further review I am now completely confused. I went straight to the point of emphasis section looking back at the rule 8.4 it says "ball is dead and batter is out and base runner must return to base" (maybe this is assuming it is not the base runner doing the interfering) then point of emphasis says specifically when runner interferes with foul ball "runner is out, strike called, ball is dead, batter stays at bat.

 

[BretMan]

Calling a foul ball for the batter, when a runner interferes with a fielder making a catch over foul ground, had been the standard call in baseball and softball for years. In recent years, some organizations have modified that rule to also call the batter out if a catch was prevented.

The older rule was somewhat equitable and somewhat punitive. If a catch was prevented over foul ground, then in most cases only one out would be prevented. So the rule awared one out, which is equitable. But the out was charged against the runner already on base. That was the punative part of the rule, as a runner already on base is generally going to be more valuable to a team than one still at bat.

Some (not all) organizations now call both the batter and runner out, kind of a double-punative penalty for when an illegal action prevents an out.

 

[leechristensen]

ok i called runner out and gave the batter a strike. neither coach complained and it was rec..thought i would get some opinions on it never came across that with a foul ball.

 

[Umpire]

I think that the theory for getting the double play on a fair or foul ball is that the runner likely would not have been able to go back and properly tag and could intentionally interfere. PONY has not changed the rule, largely because PONY softball deals solely with amateur softball, were double-penalties usually are not necessary to prevent violations.

 

[FPump]

I think that the theory for getting the double play on a fair or foul ball is that the runner likely would not have been able to go back and properly tag and could intentionally interfere. PONY has not changed the rule, largely because PONY softball deals solely with amateur softball, were double-penalties usually are not necessary to prevent violations.

????
And ASA and all the other codes don't deal with amateur softball?