Appreciate the insights. Just to clarify Mr. Rowe & papasmurf's observations (and others), it was a HTBT play, but left handed 1st. baseman, so ball in glove in right hand, runner leaving to the left. Could the fielder have made a dive or have chosen a different angle? Possibly. For whatever reason, she didn't manage to make a play, we just had a fielder, who happened to have a ball, running into a runner.
I like Mr. Greene's thoughts, both citing 9.01(c), and not ejecting, for kids especially, when it is apparent that the fielder's inexperience met a split second decision opportunity. I realize part of our responsibility as umpires are all the things that fall under 9.01(c), but I like to have a better rule reference whenever possible.
Tom "Dakota"'s observation "... there is an underlying assumption that the fielder is playing the game legally" I find probably applies to a number of rules. However, in this era of creative thinking and diminished sportsmanship on the part of a few, I'm noticing more situations coming up that seem to have not occurred to the rule writers (all codes). The rules are written under assumptions that may not be valid in some situations. I think the challenge with the combination of this and umpires' judgement (9.01 again) is unintentional inconsistancy.
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Panda Bear
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