Quote:
Originally Posted by Manny A
So, when do you apply RS 13F? Does it only come into play if the runner collides with the fielder before she has the ball? In that case, it would clearly be obstruction.
One more thing as a food for thought. The catcher here was really not waiting to make a tag. It was pretty close to the ball and runner arriving at the same time.
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I hope it's clear to all umpires that the essential ingredient in obstruction is a runner who was obstructed. You can't have Obstruction if no one is obstructed from the path they wanted to take.
This could mean contact, yes --- most obviously if the runner is contacted, their path is altered. Usually it does not involve contact - it involves a runner going around a fielder, slowing, etc - their paths were altered as well.
In the OP, the runner simply runs - no contact with the fielder (at least not until one of the other conditions - a fielder without possession of the ball - is no longer in effect), no deviation from her route, no slowing, no nothing.