Soooo confused about "Obstruction"

[ziggy29]

How about this one? It happened in a game I was in last Monday. I've heard different interpretations from different umpires, though one of those interpretations seems to be the "majority decision." I'll say what that is at the end and see if y'all agree:

Batter-runner (BR) hits ground ball to short. F6 bobbles the ball. At that moment, F3 straddles the bag, completely blocking the lane the BR would use to get to first base -- there is no way BR could have touched first base without running into F3. F6 recovers and throws to F3. The BR, who would have easily reached the base safely had he not slowed down to avoid a collision, was out by half a step. Is this obstruction?

The ruling on the field -- and what seems to be the majority decision, which I personally think is a bad rule, particularly in a low-level recreational league -- is that the BR slowed of their own accord and there was no collision that prevented the BR from reaching first; therefore there is no obstruction and BR is out. Apparently, the BR would have to physically collide with F3 while running in order to be awarded first base due to obstruction.

Is that how most of "the blue" interpret this rule in this scenario? That may be a correct interpretation of a rule, but if so, IMO, it's a bad rule, at least at the novice/recreational level.

[Edit: ASA Men's slow pitch, just in case it matters.]

[Edited by ziggy29 on Jul 29th, 2004 at 05:35 PM]