A fellow blue relayed this to me tonight and wondered if he made the right call. NSA fastpitch.

Runner on first. Batter hits a ball deep to the corner for a hit. As runners advance the batter runner keeps catching up with R1 to the point where she is directly behind her when they are a few feet from the plate. As the ball approached the infield, the trail runner "playfully" ( says my ump friend ) pushed R1 to the plate and then crossed it herself. He called R2 out for interference for assisting R1.

I don't think he got it right. Even though it seems like something wrong happened I find nothing in the rules disallowing the action. In fact NSA 8-8-n speaks of anyone other than the another baserunner being out if they assist ( ASA 8-7-E states the same thing. R2 never passed R1.when she pushed her.

The bottom line is this; is physical assistance between runners allowed so long as trail runner doesn't pass lead runner? I can't find anything ( NSA or ASA ) that specifically says its OK but it seems like it is.

I don't know NSA rules, but in ASA, a runner <i>can</i> assist another runner. There is no penalty whatsoever. Of course, if the following runner should pass the preceding runner, that's a different story.

The rule specifies an out if "anyone other than another runner" physically assists a runner.

However, that can't be taken literally. If the shortstop assisted the runner . . .

In fact, a following runner could carry a preceding runner around the bases legally, as long as he kept the preceding runner in front of him.

Supposedly a runner once did that when the preceding runner collapsed in a 19th century professional game. According to the story, the runner, unbeknownst to everyone, had actually died.

[Edited by greymule on Jul 31st, 2003 at 10:13 PM]

Agreed... one runner may assist another - it is not interference.

A runner who passes a leading runner is out, but that is an entirely different infraction.

If is is not prohibited, it is allowed.

As long as the runner doing the carrying puts the runner being carried down on each base first. :D

SamC