Interference or not?

[whiskers_ump]

Rain is about 20 miles southwest of us....It is suppose
to be a downpour with heavy winds. Gald I don't have a
tournament this weekend. Opt out...Small anyway because
of Easter Sunday.
Stay dry. The rain is forecast through Monday. Now that
will hurt me. Got a good 4A game scheduled.

[skymank]

Does it matter or not if A2(batter) runs into 1st basemen in fair or foul territory. If A2 is in fair territory I might call it even if it wasn't intentional. If A2 was in foul territory then the 1B had to actually be running into A2. No call there.
What does everyone think?

[TexBlue]

It's still gonna depend on certain things. And these are just certain situations I can think of.

1) If the fielder is between the runner and 1st, the runner must "surrender" herself or interference could occur. You can't keep on running straight into the runner with a runner going home.

2) If the runner is in foul territory and F3 fielded the ball in fair territory, then went to the foul side to tag the runner, you probably have a train wreck, play ball.

3) With the situation the same as in 2 and the runner swerves, or drops a shoulder or raises her arms, you have interference.

You just have to take each situation on it's own merits and your own judgement. The situation will change every time. But, just because contact was made while F3 was trying to complete a double play does not always result in interference.

[Dakota]

Originally posted by TexBlue
1) If the fielder is between the runner and 1st, the runner must "surrender" herself or interference could occur. You can't keep on running straight into the runner with a runner going home.

I disagree with the "must surrender" - she must avoid crashing, but a tag by definition involves contact, and generally involves the fielder in some way blocking the runner. The runner can (in addition to surrender) try to run wide (mindful of the 3' rule) or just try to duck or swerve a bit to avoid a crash. Since this is a BR, she may not reverse, though, like other runners.

Originally posted by TexBlue
2) If the runner is in foul territory and F3 fielded the ball in fair territory, then went to the foul side to tag the runner, you probably have a train wreck, play ball.

Agreed.

Originally posted by TexBlue
3) With the situation the same as in 2 and the runner swerves, or drops a shoulder or raises her arms, you have interference.

I assume by "swerves" you mean swerves into the fielder - I agree, and also most likely USC for the swerve / drop shoulder. Probably not USC for waving of arms, though.

Originally posted by TexBlue
You just have to take each situation on it's own merits and your own judgement. The situation will change every time. But, just because contact was made while F3 was trying to complete a double play does not always result in interference.

Agreed.

[TexBlue]

Originally posted by Dakota:

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disagree with the "must surrender" - she must avoid crashing, but a tag by definition involves contact, and generally involves the fielder in some way blocking the runner.
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By "surrender" in this case, what I meant was she can't run full tilt into the fielder or do the other things mentioned. She has to stop and not delay the throw to home. She could, I guess, try to avoid the tag and stay within her 3 feet of the base path. If the fielder is standing directly in the base path of the BR, the BR cannot continue to run directly at the fielder at full speed. This could possibly be construed as USC, dead ball, runner goes back to 3rd. I think we're saying the same thing, we just danced all around it.

[skymank]

In the USSSA Rules and By-Laws. Rule 9, Sec 18, I.
In the notes: The ball is not securely held if it is dropped or juggled after the runner is touched, unless the ball was deliberately knocked from the fielder's hand by the runner.
In other words, the runner is out if in the umpire's opinion the ball was deliberately knocked from the fielder's hand. If it was not deliverately knocked out the runner is not out.