NF Rule 8-2-5: Interference or not?

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by varefump

So if I understand this correctly, under NFHS rules, all the catcher has to do in this situation is to observe the BR heading to 1B and if she is out of the 3-foot running lane, then just whack her in the back with the ball and get an easy out for interference.

That doesn't seem fair to me. What am I missing here?

If you've got a particularly OOO or unobservant umpire, yeah - that would probably work. Of course... what happens when the runner course corrects and the ball misses the runner ... with the ball rolling into right field. Seems a bad course to coach.

That said, if an umpire felt it was obvious the throw was made intentionally to hit the batter-runner, then said umpire may well rule that the throw was not a quality throw (which is required for interference on this play). And if the ball was not on line to F3, an umpire could/should not rule interference even if intent was not discerned by them.

So I guess what you're missing is that the throw still has to be a quality throw, and there's a good chance to give up an extra base if not executed perfectly