No outs, No base runners. Full count. Pitch is swung at by batter and catcher has ball bounce back off of her glove into fair territory and hits batter in leg as she is going to first. Does this constitue interference ? The ball has not been "hit"

[Edited by Bandit on Mar 5th, 2001 at 08:33 PM]

Nope, not interference here. This isn't a batted ball and it's not a ball that F2 threw trying to retire a runner. This is a mishandled ball by F2 and stays live unless it goes out of play or the batter-runner intentionally kicks it or kicks at it.

Steve M: Saw a interesting comment on another thread that brought me back to here. I beleive no interference is called in this instance also but then I'm drawn to ASA rule 8.2 F. Any help in clearing my thought confusion would be appreciated. Is BR intention and or umpire judgment the deciding factor here ?

Bandit,
I would treat this ball hitting batter-runner as having hit her due to being mis-handled by the catcher. Unless BR intentionally does something to cause the contact, I see this as a live ball - keep playing.

You also need to remember that this ball hit the BR in an area where there is no pre-determined basepath restrictions.

Steve is right. Unless that BR does something INTENTIONAL, there is no call to be made. If you attempt to apply 8.2.F's "intereferes with a dropped third strike", you may hear the offensive coach make a reference to "kick ball" and the catcher intentionally swatting the ball in an effort to put out his BR.

Mike