Running to First

[CecilOne]

First of all, welcome and congratulations on being so articulate and on handling the situation so well ("[/i]Here's what the coach saw-BR alters her path too far out of the box and doesn't make a direct path to the running "box" on the baseline. He felt that this caused the firstbaseman to have to circle around her to get the throw and was interference. He cited her footprints to prove his point. (But then he also tried to convince me that because his third baseman had a foot fair when she snagged a foul ground ball, that it was fair.....) I thanked him for sharing his view but that it just wasn't what I saw, but now I'm wondering if there is something that I wasn't looking for that I should be in the future. [/i]").

Simple part next: if the BR was out of the running lane and that was what caused "first baseman can't seem to get the angle on the throw and switches feet on the bag, throw goes in the dirt"; then that sounds like a running lane violation. Again, only if the BR caused the throw to be missed by being out of the running lane in the last 30 feet, at the time.

Other part: any runner has a "base path" from wherever directly to the base, other than avoiding a fielder or the ball (ignore avoiding a tag for now). If "BR alters her path too far out of the box and doesn't make a direct path" was for other reasons, then the umpire has to judge on whether there was interference with either fielder; separately from the running lane question. The BR doesn't have to take a direct path to the running lane as long as being out of it in the last 3o feet doesn't cause the fielder at 1st to miss the throw.