Catcher Batter Contact

[bob jenkins]

I'm not sure FED even has the "in the vicinity of home plate" exception that OBR has.

The OP is OBS all the way.

[jicecone]

30 feet up the line, I have OBS on the catcher also unless the BR was intentionally taking out the catcher. HTBT

Middle school game with 3 umpires? Wow. Was this the Mid-school World Series. Most Middle school games I ever worked were by myself. Interesting.

[tankmjg24]

The way the play occurred was just weird. I was surprised that the ball bounced as far as it did but was more surprised the way the contact occurred. Nothing was malicious or intentional from my angle and my partners agreed which was why we ruled incidental contact. My initial thought was obstruction due to the play being so far up the line but I was not 100% sure which is why I was not adamant about calling it. My partners were pretty sure that it was nothing too so I did not want to differ without being 100% sure.

The game was not the world series (you would have thought it was though the way some of the fans were acting lol) but was part of the varsity tournament. This was 1 vs. 2 and the winner advanced to the championship game with the loser going to the losers bracket to fight their way into the championship game. Teams voted to use 2 umpires for 1st round and 2nd round games and the first set of losers bracket games . 3 umpires for 3rd round and last set of losers bracket games. 4 umpires for the championship game. All year long we have had 2 umpires on every game, including JV games. Life is good

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

The way the play occurred was just weird. I was surprised that the ball bounced as far as it did but was more surprised the way the contact occurred. Nothing was malicious or intentional from my angle and my partners agreed which was why we ruled incidental contact.

It does'nt have to be "malicious or intentional" for OBS to be called. At that part of the field, (30 ft.), the fielder without the ball cannot hinder the runner. Same as if F1, came running down the line to field the ball and accidentally crashed into the fielder and then picked it up and tagged him.

[TwoBits]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

I'm not sure FED even has the "in the vicinity of home plate" exception that OBR has.

FED 8-4-1a states the runner is out if he intentionally interferes with the catcher's attempt to field the ball after a third strike. I think that can be interpretted the same way as OBR does.

I have obstruction as described in the original post.