Batter bunts and beats the throw to 1B. A few steps after the base in foul territory, the ball, after being thrown in the dirt by F2 and not caught by F3, rolls between the legs of the BR where he unintentionally kicks it with his foot. He had no chance of getting out of the way because he didn't see the ball until it was too late.

I called a dead ball (runner stays at first) because the kick was unintentional yet it wasn't fair to the defense to allow the runner to continue running after the kick. There was no one else on base but if there was, say a runner between 2B and 3B, would you send him back to the last base touched at the time the ball was kicked, which was 2B?

<i> Originally posted by spots101 </i>

<b> Batter bunts and beats the throw to 1B. A few steps after the base in foul territory, the ball, after being thrown in the dirt by F2 and not caught by F3, rolls between the legs of the BR where he unintentionally kicks it with his foot. He had no chance of getting out of the way because he didn't see the ball until it was too late.

I called a dead ball (runner stays at first) because the kick was unintentional yet it wasn't fair to the defense to allow the runner to continue running after the kick. There was no one else on base but if there was, say a runner between 2B and 3B, would you send him back to the last base touched at the time the ball was kicked, which was 2B? </b>

In order for interference to be called on thrown balls we need INTENT. You said B1 UNINTENTIONALLY kicked the ball, therefore, you do not KILL play. By what rule are you killing play?

If F2 makes an errant throw, and the runner does something unintentional, ball is live and in play.

<b> it wasn't fair to the defense to allow the runner to continue running after the kick. </b>

I disagree. it was the DEFENSE who caused this. F2 made a bad throw (according to your thread, the throw was in the dirt and not handled by F3).

The applicable rule is OBR 7.09(L) or for HS FED rule 8-4-2g

Pete Booth

Pete, thanks for the clarification!!

Question now is - did you actually wind up penalizing the offense by killing the ball and preventing the BR from possibly advancing in this situation?????

Yes I did. My bad.

At least it happened for the right reason - you were not sure of the rules involved.
It will probably be a vey long time before you get caught up in that again, now that you are aware of the rule involved.
But, what does an umpire do if that ball that was accidentally kicked goes into dead-ball territory?????

Since the ball is alive and in play, I think it would be ruled the same as an overthrow into DBT. In this case, two bases from the time of the pitch (1st play by an infielder, ball was thrown before BR reached 1st). Same as if the thrown ball had bounced off the 1B coach and into the stands, or never touched anyone at all.

Wow. I didn't even think about intent nor did I think to compare this situation to a similar play where a runner slides into a base and the ball caroms off his helmet on an errant throw by a fielder. You don't kill the play then either because there was no intent involved by the runner. It just never came up like this before. I sure am glad I posted the question. Thanks again Pete for explaining it the way you did. That really helped.