fly ball interference

[Big Slick]

Originally Posted by Altor

(snip)
Sometimes, when you have rules-lawyers reading rule books and trying to apply a loophole or gotcha to the rule as written instead of the obvious spirit and intent, you have to turn that against them. If the rule specifies that appeals for fourth outs are not allowed (with the exception), then you can make the argument that this is not an appeal. The batter is out by rule and you simply have a fourth out that inning.

IRISHMAFIA says this is not the case and the rule apparently forbids all fourth outs (with the exception).

You do not have a fourth out, by the rule that Mike quoted. But it doesn't matter.

In USA Softball, it doesn't matter how many outs, the interference on a batted ball ends the at bat. Period. End of story. Don't complicate this rule.

Look at the other rule codes for comparison:
Over fair territory:
NCAA: rule is the same as USA - runner and batter are out
NFHS: runner is out, batter is put on first base
Bottom line: in all cases, the batter's time at bat has finished when the interference happens on a ball over fair territory.

Over foul territory:
NCAA and NFHS: runner is out and a foul ball (strike) is called on the batter. Batter remains at bat. If the third out of inning, current batter would lead off.
USA: batter and runner are out. This is different than the other two codes, however, the same logic applies as in a fair ball - the batter has completed their time at bat.