|
Men and Ladies in Blue,
I have hesitated joining this forum for months, mainly because I am a coach and I think an umpire forum belongs to the umpires. However, since I begain coaching softball in Germany two years ago I have been making a decided effort to learn the rules (ISF). (It took only until my second game to learn that a lot of "rules" which I "knew" were in fact myths and flawed memories from my little league and high school days.) I did not come here to gripe, complain, or criticize, but to learn, and I cannot think of a better resource than to ask some experienced American umpires some of my questions. I hope I am not too unwelcome.
That said, here is my first question.
No outs, no one on base. Batter hits grounder to F5 who makes the throw to first. Ball comes in WAY too high, F3 jumps up to catch the ball, but the jump isn't 100% vertical, and she lands on BR about a half a step past the safety base. Ball hits a fence which keeps it alive, but BR goes down and play stops, and after a minute or two making sure there is no serious injury to BR, play resumes with BR as R1.
The question is whether this could be seen as OBS. I know, HTBT. When I saw the play, I thought that F3 had obstructed BR, as she was not able to take advantage of the overthrow to head toward second. However, no one else on the field seemed to think so, including the Offensive coach.
I brought this up in the forum for our Lower Saxony Association, and the majority (but not unanimous) opinion is that it was not OBS.
I also have done much research (here, among other places) and am aware that according to other rules there is a "right to field an errant throw." I cannot find anything like this in ISF.
So why am I still bothered by it? I just can't get a handle on why we have the safety base. It seems to me that by all logic, when a collision occurs between F3 and BR someone MUST be at fault, otherwise there is no reason to have the damn thing. In other words, does not the existence of the safety base imply a very strict "you stick to the white one and I'll stick to the red one" logic? (Again, I've done my reading and am aware of the switched use of the bases on a play bringing in the ball from foul territory: but even that implies that both players must make every effort to avoid a collision.)
Or is this situation what you in blue simply call a "wreck"?
While this actually happened, I'm not really concerned with the actual play involved, but in whether/how the safety base affects/does not affect OBS rulings. My guess is that I saw it wrong, and am getting hung up on this safety base thing, but I would still like your opinions on the play as described or variations thereof as it might change your ruling or at least make things clearer for me.
jeffstone, goettingen
|