Soooo confused about "Obstruction"

[ziggy29]

Thanks, Blue. It's interesting, because the umpires on the field -- and one of the three I talked to about it after the fact -- thought the call on the field (i.e. no obstruction, batter's out) was correct. Yet there is no doubt, to anyone who saw the play, that (a) F3 was blocking the baseline before the throw, and AFTER the throw even though the throw didn't force him into the lane, and (b) BR clearly slowed down to a near-crawl for the last 1/4 of the baseline to avoid a collision.

I was pretty sure ASA wouldn't be encouraging injury by telling the runner that the only way they wouldn't be called out is to run full-speed into the fielder, but I wanted some confirmation. It's recreational, beer-league softball, for crying out loud. I didn't think they'd have rules that encourage unnecessary contact and potential for injury.