sliding short

[SamNVa]

dad,

This is definitely a HTBT situation. If the catcher was kneeling on the plate so that the entire plate was blocked and it appeared to em that the runner slid early to aoid making contact with the catcher, then I would call OBSTRUCTION and award the runner home.

If OTOH, the catcher was standing on the plate and the runner slid in short, I would call the runner out. In this case, I would not assume that the runner slid to avoid a collision, but rather she slid to avoid a tag which is normal for this situation. Since the catcher cannot block the entire plare simply by standing on it, I would be hard pressed to call obstruction because the runner slid in short in this situation.

SamC