Judgement is the key. If the presence of the catcher/fielder was why the runner slid short of the plate or why the runner slid at all, or why she slid sooner than expected or any other reason that an umpires judges the runner was impeded, it's obstruction.
Given the case as stated, no obstruction as long as "Runner DOESN'T alter path" and "not sure if runner has slowed down a little or not" and "BEFORE CONTACT, catcher gets possession "
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Officiating takes more than OJT.
It's not our jobs to invent rulings to fit our personal idea of what should and should not be.
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