|
[QUOTE]Originally posted by harmbu
[B]FED Rules. Batter attempts to bunt and pops it up down the first base line. The first baseman, the catcher and pitcher are all running toward the ball. The catcher is getting under the ball, but it is not obvious that he is going to be the fielder to attempt to catch the ball. The BR does the correct thing and goes around the catcher to avoid contact. The batter chooses to go around to the fair side of the line because the first baseman is on the foul side. When this happens, the BR collides with the pitcher and none of the three fielders catch the ball. The umpires called interference on the BR and called him out. Other than get the bunt down instead of popping it up, what should the batter have done to avoid this contact? Are all three fielders protected in this instance?
[Edited by harmbu on May 11th, 2004 at 12:54 PM]
harmbu,
As BU in the A position I had a similiar play last week. Batter pops a bunt along the first base line with a runner at third base. F1 is drifting over, F2 is chasing the pop fly and BR up the line and F3 is coming down the line to make the catch. Just as F3 is reaching for the ball, BR collides with F3, and the ball lands fair and then rolls foul and comes to a stop.
At the point of contact between the BR and F3 my arms are going up to signal dead ball and as I yell "dead ball", my partner who was blocked out on the play by F2 signals foul ball.
Partner and I get together and talk about what we saw. My call stands. Interference, batter is out and the runner returned to third.
Of course I get to have a chat with the offensive teams coach who thinks that because the PU called the ball foul, it's a dead ball with a strike on his batter. I explained that F3 was attempting to catch the ball when his batter collided with the fielder. After the collision the ball went foul and in my judgment his batter is out for interference.
Coach was not happy but to his cedit he handled the conversation well.
Sorry for the length of this post.
Michael
|