Question re: obstruction during attempted steal

[obbay]

A ways back, someone had posted an interesting twist on defending against the steal with runners at 1B and 3B.

Runner at 1B goes for 2B, Catcher throws to F4 who tags runner out on her way by and fires it home to get the out at the plate.

My question: on a Steal attempt if F4 is in the basepath could the rule on obstruction apply if she gets the baserunner out? I'm thinking on this play it would be kind of easy for F4 to drift into the basepath or for the blue to perceive it as such.

 

[quincy]

No, the ball overrides everything. If the fielder has the ball, they control the field and can be anywhere they want.

 

[MTR]

A ways back, someone had posted an interesting twist on defending against the steal with runners at 1B and 3B.

Runner at 1B goes for 2B, Catcher throws to F4 who tags runner out on her way by and fires it home to get the out at the plate.

My question: on a Steal attempt if F4 is in the basepath could the rule on obstruction apply if she gets the baserunner out? I'm thinking on this play it would be kind of easy for F4 to drift into the basepath or for the blue to perceive it as such.

You would have obstruction ONLY if a defender without possession of the ball impeded the runner's attempt to advance.

 

[BretMan]

That's a question that comes up a lot in the younger age groups, where you have the combination of infielders playing more shallow than the older girls and coaches that don't yet understand the obstruction rules. An infielder sets up in the baseline before the pitch and the coach will ask, "Can she do that?".

Sure she can. Like MTR said, it's not obstruction until somebody actually gets obstructed. On this steal play, look at it like this: Before receiving the ball, did the fielder's presence impede the runner? Did the runner have to slow down, stop or go around the fielder before the fielder had possession of the ball? If she did not, then you don't have obstruction.