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"In neither of your cases would I rule anything but obstruction. In the first case, while six feet may seem extreme, the runner wasn't looking at the fielder, so no way was she trying to run into the fielder; fielder must be aware, and is not protected because that is where she chose to be in her set position. Obstruction.
In the second instance, even while the runner did see the fielder, she touched the base and almost simultaneously contacted the fielder, so the fielder was simply too close to the base path; dumb move fielder. Obstruction (unless the contact was sufficient to consider a crash).
Great answer! DMF for sure...standing so close to second base when there was not play pending there.
And it makes sense that the fielder needs to be aware of the runner...for runners are allowed to establish any base bath they choose to as long as they don't intentionally try to draw an OBS call. In this case the runner was merely running off line because of her consentration on the catcher and batter while trying to steal a base. She did not know where the fielder was. This all will become more and more second nature as I get more experience. This forum helps me in a way that the rule book doesn't really have the ability to. The examples and real discussion of plays from guys like yourself are a major improvement to my understanding of the rules and their intended meanings. Thanks! ...Al
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