Play on or dead ball

[chapmaja]

I had this situation Wednesday (NFHS JV). Team is up about 15 in the second inning. Bases loaded, 1 out. Batter hits a hard ground ball that goes directly between F3 and F4 (Equal distance to each). F3 is playing in front of the baseline, while F4 is behind the baseline. The ball was hit so hard that neither defense player would have an opportunity to make a play. The ball however hit the runner as she tried to advance from 1b to 2b.

We both went up with a dead ball interference call, but I am not questioning it.

I understand the rule is the ball is dead if it hits a runner and has not yet passed a defensive player, or has passed a defensive player and another had an opportunity to make an out.

The question really is how to we determine the passed a player portion. In this case the ball split the difference between the two equally. I would guess that this rule really requires judgment regarding who the closest player is to where the ball goes. Am I correct?

The call of out was never question by anyone except myself.

This game was so bad, the home team only had 8 players during warmups. The 9th player arrived shortly before the start. She was a freshman up on the varsity team (which was away that day), who was pulled out of warmups and driven back to the host school to make it a legal lineup to start.