- Jun 22, 2008
- 3,438
- 48
You guys keep saying that the "act" of continuing to the next base is permitted even when R1 is called "out" but you cannot find a single rule to support your opinion on this. Which makes me believe that you guys are reading into the rules something that is maybe "implied" but not specifically stated. That's fine, but at least you can admit that it doesn't exist but is "understood" to be the case.
Maybe we keep saying "act" because that is how Interference is defined in the ASA rule book:
Rule 1 "INTERFERENCE. The act of an offensive player or team member, umpire or spectator that impedes, hinders or confuses a defensive player attempting to execute a play. Contact is not necessary."
You are not the first with this argument, but like the others, you want to provide proof of something that is not there. In November of 2006, I ran from committee to committee at the ASA National Council Meeting trying to persuade the members to NOT remove the word intentional from most of the rules addressing interference. The argument of those pressing for that change was that the word "intentional" does not appear in the definition of INT. I even lobbied committee members in the hotel parking lot when the buildings were evacuated because of a fire alarm. Quite a few members of the national staff agreed, but those with the weight supported whatever the ASA pushed, so they removed the "intent" requirement from most INT rules.
I warned them that my fear was that the change would be confused as an expectation to call everything interference that they believe affected a play, intentional or avoidable or not. The Supervisor of Umpires simply stated in the umpire's committee that there was no expectation of change the manner in which the rules were applied, but it is just removing the word and expecting umpires to determine when someone committed and act of interference. Unfortunately, very few state/metro UICs attend these meetings and they are the first step in passing information to the local associations, so what I was told in Colorado Springs got lost on the way down the line of communications and in some cases, as is pointed out by this type of post on every softball board, a couple times a year tends to justify my fears and that should not make anyone happy especially me.