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IMO the spectator has entered the field of play by kicking the backstop fence and pushing the ball, just as if he/she had reached through a hole in the backstop and pushed the ball with his/her hand. So this would be “spectator interference”. (It should probably be called “spectator obstruction” since the remedy more resembles obstruction.)
I suppose the argument would be that the fan has not “entered the field” because the fence is still between the fan and the field. My judgment would be that if the fans actions physically altered the play then that fan has “entered the field”. I can’t find anything in the rule book; this is simply my judgment. Assuming that:
The ball is dead at the moment the ball is kicked by the fan. The runners will be placed where the umpire feels they would have ended up if the interference had not occurred. In your post the runners had both already moved up and were not moving any further anyway so just kill the play, leave the runners where they are (now 2B and 3B), reset and play ball.
ASA POE 33F is pretty specific as to how to handle this, but interestingly enough I cannot find a single thing in the rule text to support it. ASA 8-5-L refers to a spectator interfering with a THROWN or FAIR BATTED ball. This is a pitched ball. POE 33F uses the words “enters the field and interferes with a PLAY” which could include a pitched ball.
NFHS 5-1-1g-1 says this is an immediate dead ball, but again I can’t find anything further on a pitched ball that is interfered with by a spectator. NFHS 8-4-3l deals with spectator interference with a THROWN or FAIR BATTED ball but not a pitched ball.
My thought is that in both ASA and NFHS the intent of the rules would be to treat a pitched ball that is interfered with by a spectator the same way as if it had been a thrown ball.
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