One for the Brettman

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This call did not effect the outcome of the game.

Runners on two and three
No outs
Batter hits to right center gap
3B comes home (first run scored)
2B rounding third while batter/runner is rounding first.
Girl playing 1B holds the bag and does not peel off to give the runner the bag to round it.
Batter/runner rounds first and is interfered with by F3. There is mild contact.
Blue puts his arm up while batter/runner is half way to 2B.
Girl from second is now home (second run scored), batter/runner out by a mile at 2B.
End result, batter/runner out, one out, two runners scored.

Blue's conferences together and explains to coach that batter runner was interfered with at 1B and she is safe at 1B, second run must go to 3B.
New end result: Runner on 1B and 3B no outs, one run scored.

We didn't complain because we were up by a lot, but there was plenty of talk later about it.

Questions:
Can a coach refuse the interference?
Was the call correct given the info I provided? (hopefully enough and correct)

 

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This is all messed up on several levels...

When the defense impedes a runner it is obstruction, not interference. These are two different things covered by two completely different rules.

When a runner is obstructed, the ball remains live for play to continue. It is NOT an immediate dead ball. The lead runner, who was completely unaffected by the obstruction, should not have been sent back to third base. Her run should have scored and counted.

When the trailing runner (the obstructed runner) was tagged out, the out should have been cancelled. The runner would then be placed at the base the umpire judges she would have reached had she not been obstructed.

Placement of obstructed runners can fall under several different rules. In a nutshell, an obstructed runner cannot be called out anywhere between the two bases where she was obstructed (between first and second in this case). If the umpire judges that she would not have safely reached second, then she would be placed back on first base. So they seem to have gotten that part right!

Finally, no, the coach does not have the option to refuse or accept this call. But since this call was not correctly made, the coach would have a perfectly legitimate- and winnable- protest.

 

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@Bretman, as always, thanks for your expertise and I know you won't complain when I point out that the limits on protests being imposed in some tournaments make that option essentially unavailable in some cases.

 

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Perfect! Thank you very much.

Also, he did call it interference, which I thought was wrong but wanted to make sure. He said the batter/runner was interfered with. I was mumbling at the time "actually she was obstructed"

Thanks for the clarification sir!