runner interference

[Alsmygal]

I watched a game over the weekend and saw a call I had never seen before. The batter bunted the ball. The third baseman charged in almost all the way to the plate to make the play. When she threw the ball to first, she hit the runner in the back and the ball deflected over towards the fence. The plate umpire immediately called dead ball/runner out. When the coach asked why she was out, the umpire stated that the runner was not running between the lines of the running lane, therefore, it was interference on the play and she was out.

I'm not saying he was wrong, but I've just never seen that call before. It looked to me like she was running right on top of the base line to first base, but I really wasn't watching closely.

Has anyone else seen anything like this?

 

[Coach JV]

yes, bunter needs to stay in safety lane on foul side of the line

 

[Comp]

This is not an automatic call, yes the runner should be in the safety lane to be protected from being called out for interference, but, it must be a quality throw to 1st base and the runner must have actually interfered with F3's ability to receive the throw.

 

[Alsmygal]

It was a quality throw and the runner got hit right before she reached first base. It appeared as if it would've been an easy out had the ball not hit the runner. This was a 12A tournament....lots of fun to watch.