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Here's a situation that happened to me today where I'm not sure if I should have called runner interference:
Runner on first. Batter hits a ball to the shortstop. Shortstop throws the ball to the second baseman. Second baseman steps on the bag at second with one foot and was attempting to throw the ball to first. After the fielder steps on second and before he throws to first, the runner slides towards second base (the slide was completely legal and in the base path). The slide occurred within 3 feet of second base. The fielder had one foot on the bag and one foot in the base path of the runner. Runner then makes contact with the feet of the second baseman and prevents him from making a throw to first. The fielder was never able to get the ball out of his glove. The fielder was twisted around, but never fell to the ground.
In my judgement, I felt that the runner was sliding to avoid being hit as well as break up the double play. However, the contact that was made seemed to me to be minor and incidental. Therefore, I let the play stand with an out at second and a runner on first. Your thoughts???
If the fielder would have been able to throw to first after stepping on second and it resulted in an overthrow, would there have been any batter interference at this point???
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