Strange obstruction play

[jchamp]

I've done about a season and a half of softball before this baseball play a couple weeks ago, in my first baseball game. It's JV, Fed rules.
R2 & R3, 1 out, batter shows bunt, F3 & F5 charge. Ball trickles down first base line. F3 fields it after BR passes him and with no play at home, he turns to throw to F4 who is late covering first base. His throw goes into foul territory, and F4 jumps across BR's path trying to make the catch, making a play on BR that would make Ray Lewis smile, knocking him down into the coach's box. F9 grabs the ball and tags him on the leg before BR could scramble to the bag.
My call: Obstruction on F4--while accidental, he was out of his place, blocked the runner from reaching the bag, would never have gotten the ball before he could make a tag, anyways, and was five feet off the bag towards home when the collision occurred.
Def. coach argues that it's a "no call" and that I need to let the play work itself out to see what happens.
What I think I screwed up was, since I made the Obstruction call, I'm not sure if R2 who had made it to third base should have gone back instead of making it home after the fact. But I'm pretty sure the obstruction was the right call. I wasn't able to get a good reading from talking to subsequent partners, except that one said if I was certain my call encouraged player safety, it's what I should call.

[nopachunts]

I would have obstruction on the described play. I would leave R2 as scoring.

[yawetag]

OBS in Fed is ALWAYS delayed dead ball, so any action after the OBS is allowed. If R2 scores, it counts. The only thing OBS does is protect a runner to the base the umpire felt he would have obtained absent the OBS, with a minimum of one-base beyond the last-acquired base.

In this situation, it sounds like BR was OBS by F4 before he was able to reach 1B. Therefore, he can be protected farther than 1B, but you have to give him at least 1B. Since F9 was able to field the ball and tag BR before he touched 1B, I'm going to assume the BR would have never made it to 2B in a non-OBS situation. If so, award BR 1B and let the run score (or whatever else R2 did).

[jchamp]

Thanks for the explanation regarding that. I want to keep this in the experience file, since I doubt it will be the last time I see something like it.
Do you have any clue where the idea that "it's a no-call" could come from? It sounds like either an obsolete rule or a TV announcer rule. Or maybe he was just trying to make a fielder (who made a good effort) not feel quite so bad about the call going against him. In either case, if he wasn't irate, he played the part well.

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by jchamp

Do you have any clue where the idea that "it's a no-call" could come from?

There are "train wrecks" that occur -- where both the runner and the fielder are doing exactly what they're supposed to do -- and it's possible the OP was one. Without being there, I can't determine if F4 did OBS BR from 1B.

[rbmartin]

If F4 was in the act of fielding a throw, even an errant throw, no obstruction, just a train wreck. If, however, he was chasing down an errant throw which he has just missed when a collision occured, then he is guilty of obstruction. Judgement call, HTBT.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by jchamp

His throw goes into foul territory, and F4 jumps across BR's path trying to make the catch, making a play on BR that would make Ray Lewis smile, knocking him down into the coach's box.

This reads a lot like 8.3.2K -- OBS