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Old Wed Mar 12, 2003, 02:27pm
SamNVa SamNVa is offline
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COne,

"It is not obstruction until it is obstruction."

By that, I mean that fielders can stand anywhere they want to, they are not quilty of obstruction until they actually impede the progress of the runner. So in your example, if F6 moves out of the way before the runner gets to her, there is no obstruction.

As another example, I always have 1st base coaches complaining about an F4 who sets right in the baseline from 1st to 2nd. Of course, by the time the runner gets to the point where F4 was setup, she has moved to make a play somewhere and is no longer in the way, so no obstruction call in most cases.

The only time I've seen this situation become a problem, was an F4 who would set up in the baseline and on a bunt would turn and run straight for 1st base. The first time it happened, she and the runner ran headlong into each other. Of course that was obstruction. The problem was that the girl either couldn't figure out what was happening or wouldn't learn or just didn't care, because she kept doing the same thing. She got called for obstruction at least 6 or 7 times. It got so bad that the opposing coach started bunting anytime there was a runner on 1st.

SamC
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