[greymule]

Situation 13 of NFHS Interpretations appears to conflict with other interpretations of Fed:

SITUATION 13: With the shortstop playing behind second base and in a position to make a catch, the runner standing on second base is hit by a line drive. RULING: The ball is dead and the runner on second base is declared out. The batter-runner is awarded first base.

OK, fine. But why the emphasis that F6 was "in a position to make a catch"? The ruling goes on to say, "If no infielder had been in a position to make a play, the ball would remain live, provided the runner did not intentionally allow himself to be hit by the batted ball." Huh? The ball didn't touch or pass a fielder!

BRD Play 115-298: R2: B1 slaps a ball by the pitcher, where it hits R2 who has retreated to the base. The umpire is certain F6 had no play on the ball. Ruling: In FED and OBR, R2 is out. The base protects a runner only when he is hit by a declared infield fly."

Well, if R2 is out in this play (when touching the bag), he surely must be out on a line drive when off the bag even "if no infielder had been in a position to make a play."

And BRD (from 2002 Casebook 8.4.2i) says, "The umpire will not call interference if a runner in the base path is hit by a batted ball when the infielders are in front of the baseline." To me, this implies that he IS out when they're NOT in front of the baseline.

5-1-1f says the ball becomes dead immediately when a fair batted ball "touches a runner or an umpire before touching any fielder and before passing any fielder other than the pitcher [or] touches a runner after passing through or by an infielder and another infielder could have made a play on the ball."

8-4-2k says any runner is out when he "is contacted by a fair batted ball before it touches an infielder, or after it passes any infielder, except the pitcher, and the umpire is convinced that another infielder has a play."

But Situation 13 says nothing about the ball passing a fielder. It says just that if F6 had no play on the ball, the ball remains live. Are they saying that the ball remains live but the runner is still out?

Did whoever wrote Situation 13 misread 8-4-2k, thinking that "the umpire is convinced that another infielder has a play" applies to the entire sentence and not just the part about the ball passing a fielder?

Help!