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Originally Posted by rwest
I agree that if the umpire deems the fielder in the act of fielding then we have interference. Does the reasonableness of fielding the ball every come into consideration? Here's an example. R1 on first base. Slow roller hit up the first base line. F3 moves up into the base path of R1. The ball stops well short of F3 who then has to move up to get to the ball. Do you consider F3 in the act of fielding when she moved up? If so, you have interference when R1 collides with F3. But my contention is that a smart F3 might obstruct the runner but claim she was in the act of fielding. If to field the ball she needed to move further up first base line then I think we have obstruction. In other words, do you protect a fielder who is within the runners base path and they have no reasonable right to be there (i.e no chance of fielding the ball in that position)?
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If the ball is hit "up the first base line," then how can it be fielded other than by moving into the base path? Would not BR be moving away from the rolling ball in any case, to avoid stepping on it?
If F3 is legitimately attempting to field this ball and not veering to 'crash' the BR (btw, what is F1 doing?
), then yes, shes fielding.
In this case the BR must move out of the baseline to avoid F3. The "basepath" has no meaning here, since the ball has not yet been fielded and an attempt to tag/put out the BR has not yet occurred.
I'm still looking for the "no reasonable right to be there" part of your sitch
