𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 - 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 - 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
APRIL 2, 2022
𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀: 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸...
𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 - Watch this pick-off play from the catcher down to first base develop as the second baseman sneaks over to take the throw. As I watched the play transpire the obstruction call was easy and straightforward. The runner clearly gave me the visual evidence that she was impeded prior to the defender receiving the ball.
Merriam-Webster defines 'impede' as 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧.
The NFHS rule book states...
𝟮-𝟯𝟲 𝗢𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 (𝗗𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘)
𝘖𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘭.
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 - I viewed the runner being impeded by the defensive player, prior to the second baseman having possession of the ball. The runner remained safely at first due to my immediately ruling "𝙊𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣!"
𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝙄𝙎 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙍𝙐𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂?
Make it a great game! Michael Leavitt - Orem, Utah

[dogpatch]

An obvious and easy obstruction call! This is classic obstruction by F4. For this play to work, it must be perfected in practice and called with a count that is favorable. F4 must begin an aggressive move toward 1B before the pitch is released (when the pitcher's arm is straight up is not too early). The pitcher must pitch out to avoid the batter putting the ball in play. F3 must be aware so she does not get in the way of the throw to F4. The catcher's throw must be low and spot-on at the point of the tag. F9 must move into a back-up position. If executed correctly, F4 gets all the way to the bag with no need to put herself in an obstructing position. Here, F4 was very slow and ended up in the runner's way before receiving the ball and while she was still on her way to the bag. The throw was way off target and very much contributed to the obstruction. This video is an EXCELLENT teaching tool! 🤔

[jasonwoodbury]

My only question is that with how the rule is worded above, the fact that the ability to receive the throw is what brought the 2nd baseman into the way of the runner, is the fact that she did not possess the ball why it is obstruction? So regardless of having to go into a path to receive the throw is meaningless since the defender does not possess the ball at that moment?

[dummay]

I know every league, assoc., etc is different. Baseball, runner is awarded 2nd base. Just curious if that is the case for softball as well, or did you mistake the ruling.

[henrybarcena]

you cut the vid right before the good part. . what did the coach ask? did you go to your partner(I'm sure she asked)😢

[ashleyprince]

Must there be physical contact for OBS to be called? For instance, F6 inside a baseline running backward to backup a throw to 3B from Catcher, F6 crosses the base path resulting in the runner having to change their path or avoid collision?

[brada]

why is it obstruction, when the runner had the other side of the base to touch? 1st baseman did not block the entire bag

[odessaangels]

Really bad call, the umpire missed the fact that the runner ran into the 2nd baseman while she had a free and open path to 1st base. Bad call !