I had a play in an ASA men's SP game earlier this week that I would appreciate some feedback on.
Two outs, bases empty. I am BU. B1 hits a deep shot to left center. I pivot in and take the BR around. Outfielder recovers and starts the relay as the runner rounds 2nd and heads for third. The ball beats the runner by a wide margin but F5 misses it and it skips away, several feet towards home. F5 is now on one knee, attempting to get up and chase after the ball but he is completely blocking the bag as the runner arrives at the base. The runner slows up a bit but still runs through the fielder. They both go down.
My first thought is obstruction but then the notion that the crash rule (8-7-Q) applied here led me to call the runner out. Obviously I neglected to remember that the crash rule applies only when a runner crashes a fielder who has the ball in his possesion. At the time, nobody seemed to argue the play much but it was bugging me. I looked it up at home that night and sure enough, I blew it.
During the play, I did not feel the contact was flagarant (and I still don't upong reflection) nor did I believe that it was a simple train wreck due to the ball beating the runner to the bag by a large margin. It seems the right call here would've been to rule obstruction, call the runner safe at third and eject him if I judged the contact to be flagarant. My only concern is the possible retaliation from the other team but I suppose that would be dealt with when it happens.
Am I off base in my line of thinking here? One thing is for sure, I won't be forgetting the crash rule anytime soon. I hate getting rules wrong!
