Quote:
Originally Posted by falsecut
Had the girl in my OP removed herself from the bag to avoid the fielder, she would have been in real jeopardy of being doubled off as the first baseman could have easily stood on the bag while making the catch.
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Ahh, but doesn't an appeal, by rule, require the defense to request a ruling from the umpire? The mere act of catching a fly ball while in contact with a base would not, in and of itself, constitute a simultaneous appeal of the runner who is off that base, IMO. Someone on defense would have to make it clear to the umpire that they are appealing that leaving base too soon violation.
That said, I have a hard time believing that FED Softball would be alone here. As others have pointed out, all other rule sets in softball and baseball don't require a runner to disengage from a base to let a fielder catch a fly ball near that base. I don't have my reference material with me since I'm on travel, but there should be something in the FED rule book or case book that addresses this.