Another Obstruction Question(s).

[DaveASA/FED]

Originally Posted by 3afan

depends ...

on all 3 the runner cannot be put out between 1st & 2nd;
on all 3 its a dead ball when the obstructed runner is put out;
then you put the runner where you think she would have made it had the obstruction not occurred ...
in #1 that could be 1st or 2nd
in #2 it could be 1st 2nd or 3rd
in #3 it could be any!

so its not a straight "runner get awarded this base" answer ....

Above bold is mine to highlight this. I think is it important to note this is not necessarly true. As mentioned by others this runner could be out in all cases.

Case 1-INT overrules OBS so if the runner commits an act of INT then they most certianly can be out
Case 2and 3- if in the umpires judgement the runner would have only obtained 2nd base (in case 2) or 3rd base (in case 3) then they would be out if they passed the base the umpire judged they would have recieved had there been no OBS. This is a common error that coaches make thinking their runners are protected forever when OBS occurs.

Had a girl get obstructed stealing 3rd, coach tried to get her to go home left field was holding the ball so she stayed on 3rd. Good thing, but coach started telling her, "if your obstructed here you should try for home the worst case is they will bring you back to 3rd" inbetween innings I casually explained OBS to him.

My point in all this is OBS is a HTBT call, and there are ways to get outs on every one of these plays....take home point is play as if you are still liable to be put out and then let the umpire award any extra bases after the play, ie don't take risks that you would not have taken had there been no OBS, cause umpire might judge you have overrun your protection!!!