Will coaches ever learn OBS?

[Andy]

I had this play last week.

B1 singles to left field, F3 is standing on the inside corner of 1B. As B1 rounds first, she bumps into F3. I signal the DDB. B1 and first base coach see the signal and B1 breaks for second. Ball is thrown to F4 and B1 is easily tagged before reaching second. I kill the ball, announce the obstruction on F3 and send B1 back to first. In my judgement, there was no way she was making second base even without the obstruction.

The offensive team head coach, a knowlegable guy and never a problem, comes out to me. He asks if I had the obstruction, I tell him yes. He asks me why his runner does not get second base. I told him that in my judgement, there was no way she was making second base even without the obstruction. He kind of smiles at me, says OK and goes back to his dugout.

There is no doubt in my mind that he could have talked a good number of our HS umpires around here into awarding second base.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Andy

I had this play last week.

B1 singles to left field, F3 is standing on the inside corner of 1B. As B1 rounds first, she bumps into F3. I signal the DDB. B1 and first base coach see the signal and B1 breaks for second. Ball is thrown to F4 and B1 is easily tagged before reaching second. I kill the ball, announce the obstruction on F3 and send B1 back to first. In my judgement, there was no way she was making second base even without the obstruction.

The offensive team head coach, a knowlegable guy and never a problem, comes out to me. He asks if I had the obstruction, I tell him yes. He asks me why his runner does not get second base. I told him that in my judgement, there was no way she was making second base even without the obstruction. He kind of smiles at me, says OK and goes back to his dugout.

There is no doubt in my mind that he could have talked a good number of our HS umpires around here into awarding second base.

Andy:

Let me get this straight. You called obstruction then refused to penalize it.

MTD, Sr.

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Andy:

Let me get this straight. You called obstruction then refused to penalize it.

MTD, Sr.

He called the play right.

You might be confusing this game with a different game involving a smaller ball.

[BretMan]

As wiser minds than my own have put it, in softball we do not "penailze" obstruction (ie: award additional bases).

Rather, we "negate the effects of" obstruction- by awarding exactly the base that we judge the runner would have achieved minus the obstruction.

[Lastump]

i don't follow, if the DDB doesn't protect the runner to 2b, why signal DDB if the OBS had no affect on the runner. what am i missing?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Lastump

i don't follow, if the DDB doesn't protect the runner to 2b, why signal DDB if the OBS had no affect on the runner. what am i missing?

It is not possible to have OBS not affect the runner. If it didn't affect the runner, it wouldn't be OBS.

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by Lastump

i don't follow, if the DDB doesn't protect the runner to 2b, why signal DDB if the OBS had no affect on the runner. what am i missing?

DDB does protect the runner between the bases where obstructed, and they cannot be called out. The award is based on where the umpire judges the runner would have made it had there been no obs. In softball, the rule that you always place the runner at least one base beyond the base last touched does not exist.

So if you have OBS between 1&2, and the runner is put out, and the umpire judges they wouldnt have made it to 2B in any case, you would put them back to 1B. As opposed to OBR, where you would put them to at least 2B.

[SRW]

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

DDB does protect the runner between the bases where obstructed, and they cannot be called out.

DDB doesn't protect them... the umpire determining that there was OBS protects them.

And also, there are 5 ways that a runner can indeed be called out between the bases they were OBS'd...

But I'm just being Captain Obvious...