Second guessing myself on a non-call of Infield Fly Rule (ASA)

[MD Longhorn]

I have some questions about your description. "20-30 feet." "Ran Back". "A long way".

20-30 feet is not running back a long way. Not even close, and definitely not potentially mid-depth left field. Less than 10 yards / 4-5 running steps or 10-12 backpedal steps. And if LF could have made this play where F6 did not ... was LF closer? Were these two fielders beginning the play less than 60 feet from each other? They began the play closer together than the distance between bases? I find this hard to believe.

Are you sure you don't mean 20-30 yards? 10-15 running steps?

If this was really 20-30 feet, yeah, call IFF when you realize it.

OTOH ... IFF is not meant to bail the defense out of a misplay, it's meant to prevent the defense from letting a ball drop on purpose and turning two. I can't imagine entertaining the DEFENSE asking for you to retroactively rule this an IFF. Normally it's the OFFENSE asking you to retroactively rule an IFF ... when the defense lets it drop and turns 2.

And, in retrospect - if it was catchable with ordinary effort, why wasn't it caught with ordinary effort?