[blueit]

I understand what you're all saying & I really don't want to argue with multiple umpires with your level of experience. I'll try to call things in the future as you suggest. There remain some troubling parts of the printed NFHS rules & casebook comments -- how they're worded, inconsistency between rulebook & casebook, and a concept (play continues if no tag, play stops if there's a tag ... though the tag has no effect on safe/out).

1. Wording -- every mention in the rules and comments of awarding bases to other runners refers to "runners affected by the obstruction", not just runners. I don't buy the notion that "affected by the obstruction" means affected by a dead ball call that results not from the obstruction itself (which is only a delayed dead ball, and "the ball will remain live" as it says in the penalty part of 8-4.3.b), but from subsequent events -- whether a tag is attempted & made & whether the umpire 84 feet away calls "dead ball."

Another problem with the wording is that, contrary to a couple of posts above, no rule specifies WHEN the "dead ball" call is to be made. 8-4-3b
says "a dead ball is called". It does not say "... when the put out occurs." Nor does it say "immediate".
That is a implication which everyone apparently agrees should be made.
But that's inconsistent with the casebook comments.

A third problem is the use of the term "put out" to refer to an obstructed runner who's tagged without reaching the base. She's not really out, because
to quote the 8-4-3B Penalty: "An obstructed runner may not be called out between the two bases where she was obstructed." So she can't be "called out", but she can be "put out"? Wow. Explain that to a coach. If the rule means "tagged" (I can't think of another way an obstructed runner could be "put out"), that's what it should say.

2 Inconsistency -- The casebook comments, in 2 different places as detailed above, do specifically state when the "dead ball" call is to be made: "at the end of playing action," which is not the same thing as "when the obstructed runner is put out." If other runners are still moving on the bases, "playing action" has not ended. Either (a) the "playing action" specified in the comments is implied to be the "playing action" on the obstructed runner only, not other runners), or (b) the comment is just wrong, as being in conflict with the IMPLICATION of the rule that "dead ball" should be called when the obstructed runner is tagged. And (a) can't be correct -- because playing action does continue, everyone agrees, if there's no tag.

3. Concept -- The result indicated in the above comments is that play continues if a fielder does not tag an obstructed runner, but is stopped
if there is a tag. Just from a philosophical, "what should the rule be?" standpoint, why should a tag that has no bearing at all on safe/out status
(because the obstructed runner can't be called out between those bases)
determine whether play continues or not? If I were drafting the rule from scratch, I wouldn't want a meaningless play by a fielder on a runner she's just obstructed to affect other runners. For 2 reasons -- (1) If there's been a collision due to obs., it's not unusual that tempers flare, and a rule that
encourages the obstructing player to continue to try to tag the runner
(despite having presumably heard an "obstruction!" call, which means the runner is safe) is probably not wise. (2) That the obstructing fielder can suspend or freeze the progress of other runners (by getting an immediate "dead ball" call) bothers me. To me, that's punishing the offense for a rule infraction by the defense. If the concept underlying obs./DDB is to restore players to what they would have done without the obs. (as Tom stated above), then other runners should be allowed to do what they would've done without the obs.: either stop or try for the next base. Instead, their position is now determined by umpire judgment, because the obstructing fielder made a meaningless tag, even though they weren't "affected" in the normal sense by the obstruction.

And one more thing, then I'll shut up. What if, in the OP, instead of missing the tag at the plate on the first pass so that there's a delay of several seconds between the obstruction & the tag, F2 does touch the obstructed runner just after receiving the ball. The tag converts a DDB into a "dead ball" almost immediately. There's essentially no "delay" to a DDB, and the statement in 8-4-3b (Penalty) that "The ball will remain live" doesn't mean much. Not to mention the "end of playing action" comments.

Bottom line for me: the rulebook & casebook are a mess in this area. The rulebook never specifies exactly when "dead ball" is to be called. The casebook comments do, but they're wrong. Runners unaffected by the obstruction itself are placed on bases according to umpire judgment, despite the rule language only applying to "affected" runners. An obstructed runner can be "put out" but not "called out." Imagine explaining all that to a coach who carefully reads, after a "continuing action" play following obstruction, the casebook and inquires (post-game,one would hope), "Why do these comments not apply?" That's a tough one. What would fix this would be the following:

1. In rule 8-4-3b, PENALTY add after "a dead ball is called": "when the obstructed runner is tagged." (Again, I can't think of a way a runner not reaching the base would be "put out" without being tagged.)

2. In the same sentence, add after "runner affected by the obstruction", add "or the 'dead ball' call".

3. In the comments, clarify that dead ball is to be called "(i) at the end of playing action if no tag is made on the obstructed runner, or (ii) when the obstructed runner is tagged."

None of those things is clear from the present rules or comments. This all may seem clear to those of you who have been calling it this way for many years, but it isn't clear to others who carefully read the rules & comments.