What Do You Have?, Part II

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

I did not want to hijack BretMan's "What Do You Have?" thread, but I have a different but similar situation.


The game was a USSSA Girls' 12U fastpitch.

R1 on first, 0 outs. Ground ball to F4. R1 runs into F4 just as F4 fields the ball and knocks F4 to the ground. I know that R1 has committed Interference, the ball is Dead immediately, and R1 is out. Can we get a 2nd out on the B/R? I would appreciate rulings for NFHS, NCAA, ASA, and USSSA (all fastpitch please).

I belive that one can get a 2nd out on the B/R because R1's interference and kept F4 from starting any type of play. (This is a no brainer in baseball: 2 outs. .)

MTD, Sr.

Fed requires that the interference be "an obvious attempt to prevent a double play" to get the second out. ASA requires that the interference be "an attempt to prevent a double play" (deleting the word "obvious" but still implying intent to prevent a double play). So, with these two, I would not have two outs in your situation unless you saw something that would lead you to judge there was an attempt to prevent the double play.

U-trip gives more leeway, saying "If, in the judgment of the Umpire, a runner interferes in any way and prevents a double play anywhere, two shall be declared out (the runner who interferes and the runner closest to home)." But, even with this, you'd have to judge (in my view) that this 12U team was in the process of executing a double play... pretty rare at 12U in my experience.