Quote:
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Originally Posted by mcrowder
Batter hits a dribbler right down the third baseline. F5 charging and R1 from third are about parallel to each other coming down the line. F5 cuts in front of R1 to field the ball, but just as she's about to pick it up, R1 collides with her - they both fall, and no one touches the ball.
First question - should I be cognizant about the status (Fair/Foul) of the ball at the moment F5 likely would have picked up the ball? Does that even come into play?
Second question - if the ball was never touched, and eventually stopped short of third base in foul territory (or rolled past third in foul territory), does that negate the interference?
I feel like I botched one here, but want to hear the answers to these two questions first before I tell the rest.
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Answer to First Question: I don't believe we consider what could of happened except in cases of Obstruction. So you either have interference or obstruction or a train wreck.
Answer to Second Questsion: The status of the ball has no bearing on interference in this case. If you deemed it interference then you would have killed the ball immediately when the interference occurred. So what the ball did after that is irrelevant.
This is an interesting play. F5 was in the act of fielding the ball but had to cut in front of the runner to do so. Wow! I could argue for either obstruction or interference. However, once the ball went foul then I believe obstruction would be negated by the status of the ball.