No Brainer....But People are still Arguing.

[kellerumps]

Now then I was not there, but our phone starting ringing after the fact. To make matters worse we have a friend(who this call went against), who refuses to believe us and this is our resolution of proof.

Here is the situation.....Bases Loaded, 1 out. Batter hits a ground ball to Short Stop who gets plowed over by R2 as she is trying to make the play.

The argument our friend is trying to make is that R3 gets to score since she was "Forced" at the time of the play.

We tried to convice her that

1. The ball is dead (No Argument)
2. R2 is declared out (No Real Argument other than the usual BS about the runner has the right yada yada yada)
3. All runners return to the base last touched unless forced to advance by BR....So BR will go to 1st, R1 goes to 2nd and R3 stays at 3rd. Here is where she argues.

Please be gentle

[Dakota]

Originally posted by kellerumps
The argument our friend is trying to make is that R3 (sic) gets to score since she was "Forced" at the time of the play.

Try this...

If R2 had been put out with a tag by F6 (instead of interference), would a throw home to get R1 require a tag, or is she forced?

Yes, of course, it would require a tag, because the force has been removed by the tag out on R2.

R2 out on interference; force removed from R1. R1 returns to 3rd.

Yeah, I know, I switched around your R1, R2, and R3. Softball, ya know.

[CecilOne]

Right, the "forced by BR" only applies to succeeding runners (those following the runner who is out).
BTW, did you notice that Merle Butler use the "baseball" method for runners in his recent article in Referee magaazine?

[Dakota]

I don't read Referee Magazine. They dropped softball a couple of years ago because it was not a real sport, according to their editors. I know they added it back in, no doubt because of the money their stupid move cost them, but even so, I believe the move reflects their actual editorial opinion of softball so I refuse to send them any of my money.

Besides, how do you know Merle actually did that? There is a better than even chance, IMO, that the runner numbering was an "editorial correction" made by the Referee editors before going to print.

After all, softball is not a real sport.

[CecilOne]

Yeah, but I like having their insurance and softball is not my only sport. Plus, I get to read what Merle says. I thought about their editors doing that with their HARDball mentality, but I just wondered if others noticed.