Batter interference, malicious contact or both?

[skinner51]

I had a MC call at a JV game. Here is how it unfolded:

R2 trying to score on hit to RF. Throw to the plate, R2 slides, catcher goes down to his knees in front of the plate to block the ball on the one bounce throw from Right. Catcher bobbles the ball as he is leaning towards sliding R2. Catcher ends up laying on R2 as R2 slides and stops short of the plate. R2 is 1 foot (12") short of the plate. Ball is lying on the ground near the backstop. As R2 scrambles to get up, the catcher has already risen and is standing on the plate, and hovering over R2. As R2 gets to one knee and trys to reach the plate with the other foot, the catcher, using both arms fully extended, shoves R2 to the ground onto his back. R2 still reaches the plate before the pitcher can get the ball and tag him. I immediately give the safe sign, then point to the Catcher and give him the Heave-O.

Neither the Catcher, his teammates, nor the fans (100+) got ugly. Guess everyone knew what was going to happen. This was a big rivalry game as the 2 schools are less than 1 mile apart. The offending school is a private school; the other is a public school. Several batters were HBP from both teams. Knowing this was a rivalry, attitude would probably explode.

After Catcher was ejected, his coach came and said, "Hey Blue, in basketball the player gets a technical. In soccer it is a yellow card. Can't my catcher get a warning. He is going to miss the next 2 games if he is ejected."

I told the coach that we are playing baseball, not basketball or soccer. In baseball, MC is not a warning, it is an automatic ejection.