ncaa world series- Good call/Bad call??

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After watching the contact between base runner Jenae Leles and 2nd baseman Kenora Posey last night, I wonderd if the right call was made. The call was runner interferance and Leles was called out. Leles jumped in the air to avoid contact with the ball and Posey charged forward into Leles, knocking them both to the ground. Leles was in the base path and there was no posible way to avoid the contact (Posey charged her from behind). The commentary by Lisa Fernandez stated that the baserunner is always at fault in this situation. I know that the runner can't interfere with the ball or the defense, but how can she avoid a collision she cant see comming. If that is really the rule then i'm suprised we dont see more collisions (pretty easy out for the defense).

 

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Didn't see the play myself. I'll go on your description.

On a batted ball, the fielder's protection from interference is absolute. This is one play where you have to ask the question, "Did the runner prevent the fielder from fielding the ball?". If the answer is "yes", then you most likely have interference and an out.

The runner's intent on this play should not be a factor. The protection from interference on a batted ball is stronger than on, say, a thrown ball. On a throw, the runner's intent comes into play. Unfortunately for the runner, on a batted ball it does not. Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces and you have to accept the call and move on.

As for the scenario of a defender purposely bumping into the runner to draw an interference call, that should not work. If the umpire judges that the defensive player purposely altered her path to to cause unnecessary contact, then the defense has committed a violation- at the least obstruction and, possibly, malicious contact.

The rules provide a pretty good "check and balance" to dissuade the defense from trying to draw an unearned interference call on this play.

 

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No runner interference........Ball was at LEAST 10 feet away in the hole from Posey.......She ran right into Leles from 2 different angles. I'll give a Heads-Up play to Posey though, knowing she couldn't get the ball or the runner she took a chance on the interference call and got it.

 

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No runner interference........Ball was at LEAST 10 feet away in the hole from Posey.......She ran right into Leles from 2 different angles. I'll give a Heads-Up play to Posey though, knowing she couldn't get the ball or the runner she took a chance on the interference call and got it.

Thats what it looked like to me too. I just could not believe she got away with it. At that point the game was 0-0 and bases were loaded. I dont even think AZ had any outs. If not for the interference call a run would have come in (imho). If that was really intentional then Posey needs to start a carreer in hollywood. very smooth and very fast thinking. WOW!

 

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See, now I thought I was the only one who felt Posey did it on purpose. She went at the ball at a completely wrong angle and a player as good as Posey wouldn't normally do that. My dd's were watching and thought that it was a little dirty. I said it would come back and bite Posey in the butt....and it did. Leles ended up booting one right past Posey and scoring 2 runs in the process. My girls looked at me in amazement when that happened! It was awesome! We sorta wanted TN to win, but it was a great game and AZ deserved it. IMHO

 

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I thought that at first. If any of you taped the game, go back and look at it and you will see that Posey was much closer to the ball. She could have made a play on it.

 

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I thought that at first. ?If any of you taped the game, go back and look at it and you will see that Posey was much closer to the ball. ?She could have made a play on it.

Again, I didn't see the game so I'm going by the descriptions given. But STP12 has hit on the root question that the umpire has to answer to make this call.

Could the defender have made a play on the ball absent the contact with the fielder?

If "yes", interference is the proper call.

If "no", then you probably have obstruction against the defense.

 

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She could have made a play on it. The baserunner made two mental mistakes in addition to physical mistake. First of all she should have known with no outs and Caitlyn Lowe on third that she would have scored easily on any contact. Second of all she was not ready to run with a game plan when she saw ball coming her way. She needed to run inside or outside the basepath to avoid collision. Most umpires will not call her outside the basepath if she clearly is trying to avoid contact.

 

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Most umpires better not call a runner out for running around a fielder in the act of fielding the ball!

The rule book specifically says that a runner is not out for leaving her basepath to avoid contact with a fielder fielding a batted ball.

The only time a runner can be called out for deviating more than three feet from her basepath is if she does it to avoid a tag by a fielder.

To be considered avoiding a tag, the fielder must already have possession of the ball and be attempting to tag the runner. That does not apply when you have a fielder trying to field a batted ball.