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Originally Posted by tarheelcoach
Situation - NFHS game. Bottom 8, visitors up by one. R3, one out. Ground ball to SS, who throws home. Catcher blocks R3, THEN catches throw and tags runner out. Runner never got to home plate.
Now, this call went my team's way, so I'm certainly not complaining. But I thought it looked like obstruction, but when I came home and re-read the rules, I wasn't quite sure.
The rule states that obstruction is "when a runner is obstructed while advancing by a fielder who neither has the ball nor is attempting to make a play."
When is the catcher waiting for a throw attempting to make a play? The catcher definitely semed to have blocked, then caught, then tagged. If my perspective is right, should that have been obstruction?
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If the catcher is making a play, ie receiving a thrown ball, and the play is imminent, he can block the plate. What is imminent you might say? A rule of thumb is the ball is in flight, directly at the catcher and in the air over the dirt cutout, which should be about 13 feet from the plate. If the catcher was where he needed to be to catch the throw and it was in flight 13 feet from the plate, then I would not rule obstruction. The block, the catch and the tag would have to be bang, bang, bang. It if was block, pause, catch, tag then maybe obstruction is the correct call.