Make the Call

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...The ump said if she hadn't been obstructed, she would have went in standing up with no chance to come off the bag.

Show me THAT in the rule book. Again, obstruction deals with what happens between bases, not after a runner reaches one of them. Just because there was obstruction doesn't give a runner a free pass to make a bad slide. Who's to say that if the runner had gone in standing up she wouldn't have tripped over the base or overran it. Would he have applied the same logic and called her safe?

 

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It sometimes boils down to understanding the rules. bretman made a call this summer at our high school game and the head coach and fans went nuts. Lucky my friend couldn't hear the names they were using. He made the correct call and the next game we gave the head coach a copy of the rule about the ball hitting a defensive player first before it hits the runner. I think I was the only one besides him that knew the correct call. I agree with the emotions comment.

That was a fun time!

I thought that I was going to need a police escort to get out of there that night. After the game, a couple of fans wanted to vent their displeasure all the way out to the parking lot.

I'm confident that we applied the right rule and made the correct call. If I remember, your team won by the run-rule that night, so it's not like one callwould have blown the game for the visitors. But the way they reacted you would think that it did!

 

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Show me THAT in the rule book. Again, obstruction deals with what happens between bases, not after a runner reaches one of them. Just because there was obstruction doesn't give a runner a free pass to make a bad slide. Who's to say that if the runner had gone in standing up she wouldn't have tripped over the base or overran it. Would he have applied the same logic and called her safe?

Well, the rule does say that an obstructed runner can't be put out BETWEEN the two bases where she was obstructed. As long as this runner was still BETWEEN first and second base (ie: did not pass second) then she can't be put out- even if she happened to touch second base before getting tagged.

The explanation may have been a little off, but the explanation was not a statement of a rule, rather it was an explanation of the umpire's judgment thought process and you won't find that in any rule book.

As long as the runner was not PAST second base when tagged...you have two options. Either award second base or place the runner back on first base.

 

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At least as far as NFHS goes, the obstruction rule specifically states "If the obstructed runner is put out PRIOR (emphasis added) to reaching the base..." It doesn't say anything about reaching a base and then losing contact with the base. I don't see how the runner in question can be anything but out. If a coach were to pull out a rule book after a call like this, how could you argue with him or her that you were correct? A runner cannot physically be between first and second after she has already touched second. When a part of her body touches the base she is there and not between.

 

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At least as far as NFHS goes, the obstruction rule specifically states "If the obstructed runner is put out PRIOR (emphasis added) to reaching the base..." It doesn't say anything about reaching a base and then losing contact with the base. I don't see how the runner in question can be anything but out. If a coach were to pull out a rule book after a call like this, how could you argue with him or her that you were correct? A runner cannot physically be between first and second after she has already touched second. When a part of her body touches the base she is there and not between.

NFHS rules do not credit a stolen base if the runner overslides, so they obviously do not consider merely touching a base as reaching it. Many scoring rules do likewise regarding extra-base hits.

Well, the rule does say that an obstructed runner can't be put out BETWEEN the two bases where she was obstructed. As long as this runner was still BETWEEN first and second base (ie: did not pass second) then she can't be put out- even if she happened to touch second base before getting tagged.

I believe this post indicates the rules do not consider a runner past a base unless they go towards the next base. Bretman can confirm and/or clarify.