ball caught after runner interference.

[ixamnis]

I've seen this happen twice now and I guess was called correctly both times. Runner on second one out or less. Ball is popped up to shortstop. Runner collides with shortstop trying to get back to second. Despite collision shortstop still catches the ball. Both cases runner at second is called out for interference. But batter is placed safe at first base. Logic is after interference call ball is dead and nothing can happen. But, I'm told if batter hits a ground rule double with runner on first, but runner on first has held to see if ball might be caught and batter passes runner even after the ball has gone over the fence and ball is dead. Batter is still out for passing runner. So if I have this right, things still can happen after dead ball in this case! I just don't understand penalizing the fielder for going ahead and making a play on a ball that was not deflected by the runner and gaining no advantage by being interfered with by the runner and in fact being put at more of a disadvantage... Some softball rulebooks say that if in the judgement of the umpire the fielder would have caught the ball the batter is out too. But the fielder DID CATCH the BALL!

[timmorris]

Look at it this way, if the runner gets back to second and the fielder still catches the ball, did he/she really interfere with the play on the ball? If not, then you would still have the out but a runner on second instead of first. If the interference is called, it wouldn't matter if the ball was caught or not, the runner is out and you have a someone on first instead of second. I think the rule is such that if the player was actually able to make the play and no one advanced, did they get interferred with in a manner that affected the outcome. Just a thought.

[ixamnis]

Your thought is worth considering. The team on defense gains more of an advantage from the interference call than they would had the batter been put out with a catch. Unless of course the fielder could have caught the ball and then tagged the runner getting back to base or picked her off base. Thanks for commenting.

[team mom]

A similar play happened in one of the WCWS games recently. In that case the ball went to 2nd who was close to the base. She tagged the base and then made a quick throw to first to go for the double play. She threw right into the base runner. Replay showed she probably would not have made the throw in time, but the runner was called for interference so they called the batter out as well. Not sure the runner could have gotten out of the way anyway they were so close when the throw happened. Ball hit her so hard it knocked her helmet off.

[ixamnis]

I saw that play too. Had almost same thing happen in high school game this year. Runner from first was forced out and then batter was called out at first because runner from first had not slid or made an attempt to get out of the way after being forced out at second. In this case the runner from first was not hit by the ball. The second baseman did not make an attempt to throw it. Didn't see the second baseman double clutch or do anything that appeared to indicate she had been bothered by the runner from first being in her way, she just realized when she caught the ball and turned that the battter was going to beat a throw to first. Home plate umpire made the runner interference call. As you can imagine considerable discussion followed..... call was not reversed. Umpires! Can't always agree with them, can't play without them.

[ixamnis]

Our coach told me this week that in the case of runner interference. either running into the fielder or the ball hitting the runner. The batter is awarded a hit.... not fielder's choice.

[CSThunderCoach]

Fastpitch Softball
NCAA Rule 14.3 - Base Hit
14.3.12 If the official scorer judges the batter would have earned a base hit had runner interference not occurred.

14.7 - Fielder's Choice
14.7.1.5 When the base runner interferes with a batted ball and the official scorer judges that the batter would have been put out but for the interference. In this case, the batter is credited with a fielder’s choice.