Just wondering

[oppool]

Found this on another site just wondered if any agree with the last part of the umpire's ruling and if anybody ever seen it called!!

[b]Question
Umpire's Reply
Two outs. Bases loaded. Ground ball to second.
The runner from third scores prior to the force out
at second. does the run count? I say no, but the
ump allowed the run to count....
Any time there is a force play for the third
out,the run would not count. The only
exception to this might be if the runner going
home from third was obstructed by the
defense, in which case the run would count.
The umpire could make this call to avoid
giving the defense license to obstruct,
thereby "awarding" the run.



I like to hear this one explain to the coach


Don

[SC Ump]

If you mean explaining to a coach the ruling that was posted, I would hope that however the explanation was done that the coach then said, "I protest".

The ruling is not correct.

In most all softball organizations the "penalty" for obstruction is to award the baserunner the base they would have reach had there been no obstruction. The runner at third would not have reached home if there had been no obstruction.

Furthermore all organization have rules that state something similar to -

"A run shall not be scored if the third out of the inning is a result of:
a) The batter being put out before legally touching 1st base.
b) A base-runner being forced out due to the batter becoming a baserunner."

[CecilOne]

That's one problem with the "award the next base" rule used in PONY, maybe LL and apparently in the baseball rule book. If the obstruction going home occurs under PONY (and whatever) rules, the runner is awarded home, but the run does not count. That delays the game because of having to explain it to the coach, possibly at length.