Immediate (?) dead ball

[WestMichBlue]

May Issue of Referee - softball Caseplays. They say that because it is a high fly ball you can not make an immediate decision as to who may catch the ball, thus you don't know who to protect from interference.

If you have a collision between a runner and fielder during this decision period, then you can not have interference because that fielder is not protected.

Obstruction is a stretch, so they advise for "no call." Use safe call to tell everyone you saw the collision, "but neither player was placed at a disavantage not intended by the spirit of the rules."

WMB