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Originally Posted by wadeintothem
Well I'm not sure what the umpire saw...
If its unintentional its play on.
My rule of thumb is if a coach is making a legit effort to get out of the way, its play on. If the coach does anything to hint at not being proactive in getting out of the way I will punish his team. I.E. If a coach just stands in his box (to be honest I've only seen this in mens, never had it happen with girls) I consider that intentional interference.
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ASA 8.7 The Runner Is Out
0. When a coach intentionally interferes with a batted or thrown ball, or interferes with the defensive team's opportunity to make a play on another runner. A batted or thrown ball that unintentionally hits a base coach is not considered interference.
EFFECT. The ball is dead. The runner closest to home is out. Runners not out must return to the last base legally touched at the time of the interference.
NOTE: A batted or thrown ball that unintentionally hits a base coach is not considered interference.
The rule states it TWICE! If the contact is not intentional, it is not interference. It does NOT even require the coach to be in or out of the box at the time of contact. The coach's job is to direct the runners. That does not necessarily require him/her to be watching the ball, but more often the runners.
I would NEVER consider ruling coach's interference just because a coach didn't make an effort to move out of the was
unless I was sure the coach was 100% cognizant that the ball was going to hit him/her and braced for the impact (and I'm not talking about a coach that just happens to catch the ball out of the corner of their eye and covers up).