Two questions

[CoachJD]

It was a wild pitch, the batter took a few steps back out of the box while the runner came home. The catcher fielded the ball by the backstop, the pitcher covered the plate, the catcher attempted to throw the ball to the pitcher, and the runner scored. I can't say exactly where the batter was in relation to the catcher and pitcher.

Got it. So RHB backed up on the 3B side instead of going to the 1B side?

That's one of those things I always feel should be obvious, but experience has taught me you need to at the very least have the conversation with players if not practice it outright.

 

[flash277]

Both feet need to be within the 24' pitching rubber. In 12U rec you bring the coach out ASAP, tell the coach what she is doing and let them deal with it. If it keeps happening you call it.



They have to move out of the way; this is clear interference as described. Intent doesn't matter.

This is USSSA rule description, but it matches most rule sets:
Rule 7.12
"A batter shall not interfere with the catcher’s fielding or throwing by leaning over home plate, by stepping out of the batter’s box, by making any other movement which hinders action at home or the catcher’s attempt to play on a runner, or by failing to make a reasonable effort to vacate congested area when there is a throw to home and there is time for the batter to move away. PENALTY: Dead ball; the batter is out."

... runners return to the bases they occupied (so no run scores). There is a few other rules which cover 'no throw' (so for example the catcher gets a rebound off a wild pitch and just goes to make a play) and other fielders - but the batters required actions and penalty is still the same.

I had interference by batter the other day in a game. The ball went to the backstop, the runner at third came home, batter didn't move an inch, pitcher at home, but the runner crossed home just as the catcher threw the ball, is that still interference even if throw wouldn't get there in time?

I called runner out, I may have been wrong, coach came to discuss it with me, here's how that went:

Coach: "how can the batter move, she didn't see the runner coming" (RHB)

Me: "Well you should of told her to move out of the way"

Coach: "That's not my job"

Me: "Yeah, it is your job"

Great way to start off my umpire season, final score 34-22, called for darkness.

 

[mmeece]

I had interference by batter the other day in a game. The ball went to the backstop, the runner at third came home, batter didn't move an inch, pitcher at home, but the runner crossed home just as the catcher threw the ball, is that still interference even if throw wouldn't get there in time?

I called runner out, I may have been wrong, coach came to discuss it with me, here's how that went:

Coach: "how can the batter move, she didn't see the runner coming" (RHB)

Me: "Well you should of told her to move out of the way"

Coach: "That's not my job"

Me: "Yeah, it is your job"

Great way to start off my umpire season, final score 34-22, called for darkness.

The defense has to be afforded the opportunity to make a play, however if there was truly no opportunity to make an out then there was no play to be interfered with. But, if there was ANY chance then I lean towards interference.

 

[dbronstein]

You guys will like this. We had that ump again today, so I talked to him about the interference call. I told him that from my "research" (the experts here) that the batter should've been out, not the runner. Here's what he told me:

"In most instances the batter would be out. However, in the case of two outs and a runner on third, then the runner is out and not the batter."

I just left it at that.

 

[dbronstein]

Another follow up - he did our game on Sunday. He said he looked it up and I (the people here) was correct. He said he was confusing it with a baseball rule. I have no idea what baseball rules he was looking at but I give him credit for taking the time to look into it.