All;
It's been a while since I have been around but I have a situation that all of the rules gurus may enjoy chewing over.
R1, 1 out, NCAA rules but I'd be interested in FED and OBR as well:
We have all seen the situation where R1 is stealing and the batter swings at an outside pitch. His momentum causes him to step on the plate and interfere with the catcher's throw to second. About 70% of all umpires are too chicken manure to call interference but the correct call is, of course, interference. Assuming that R1 is not out on the throw, the batter is out and R1 returns to first.
Now consider this:
In an NCAA game that I had recently, R1 was stealing and the pitcher delivered an INSIDE pitch at the knees. The batter jumped the lower part of his body backward to avoid getting cut off at the knee. The upper part of his body fell forward across the plate and interfered with the catcher. Common sense and fair play caused me to ignore the infraction despite a mild protest by the defense.
That was common sense and fair play. Does anyone have the appropriate rules citations, Evans, etc. to go with it?
Peter
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