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Originally Posted by LMan
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  |
Here's the scenario....
R1 on 1B. B1 hits a slow roller up first base. F3 move's in front of R1. F1 is not moving toward the ball, neither is F2. Should they be? Yes, but lets just say they don't. F3 is standing in R1's way. But the ball never makes it to her. It stops well short. In my opinion, F3 is not in the act of fielding even though she reacted when the ball was hit. She had no reasonable expectation of fielding the ball. I've got obstruction. That's what I mean by "no reasonable right to be there". Suppose the ball was hit down third base line instead and F3 did the same thing. Does F3 have the right to stand in the way of R1? No. However, she did react to the ball. You'd have obstruction right? So why proctect F3 in the above scenario, when she had no reasonable expectation to field the ball?