girls hardball

[Big RR]

What interference; I don't see them initiating any contact? That appears to be solely her action.

[Guinevere]

Ditto on the blindness. The CATCHER WASNT FIELDING THE BALL. She had no reason to initiate contact with the runners (and oh yeah, we had FIVE baseball games last weekend -- I know of what I speak).

[wesw]

watch again. she merely held her established perfectly legal position

[Big RR]

Come on wes, even you admit she "butt-bumped" them; I personally think she shoved them as well. She made the contact, they didn't.

I will leave the question of whether her position was legal to those who know the rules better than I. But I do know you cannot initiate contact without the ball, and the ball was nowhere near her.

[wesw]

RR, they tried to throw a shoulder into her, she clearly had an established position, if she had set up outside the foul line she would have been guilty of interference , she did not. I assume that the umpires know the rules and called the play accordingly

[Big RR]

Well it's pointless to argue, but she was clearly the one who initiated contact, not the runners, and she had to shift her body and arm positions to make it. Even if they were nearing down on her, she has no more right to initiate contact that a batter hit or threatened by a brushback pitch has a right to throw his bat at (or charge the mound and pummel) the pitcher. It's just not the way the game should be played.

[Guinevere]

It's not "Intereference" it's "Obstruction." Read the freaking rules, they are different fouls, committed in different contexts.

[wesw]

well, I ll agree to disagree with you all....

but if I was drafting a team again, she would be my first pick....

[MajGenl.Meade]

You left an 'r" out, wesw

[Big RR]

Meade--

[wesw]

....were....

[wesw]

ok, dammit, 'splain the joke to me.....

god knows I hate to have to ask....

[Crackpot]

I think it has to do with the last word...

[wesw]

darn, I thought my humour was subtle.....

meade wins a cookie

[Lord Jim]

Ditto the blindness comments directed to wes...

The catcher's left foot is clearly in the base running path and she is obstructing the plate.

Wes, how can you not see that?

In both cases, the catcher deliberately moved closer to the runner and elbowed both out of the running path and away from the plate.

At a guess, I'd say that maybe she did it to force the runners to miss the plate causing them to have to come back to touch it; thus gaining more time for the ball to get there, so she might be able to tag them out...

Or maybe she was frustrated because her team was losing, or maybe she's just plain mean...

Whatever the reason, it was clearly flagrant dirty pool and she should have been ejected.

ETA:

I also think one of the follow up posts to the video raises a good point:

She should have been ejected immediately after the first incident. Even more troubling to consider is whether or not she was coached to do that.

And where were the umps?

[MajGenl.Meade]

It's derivative

[wesw]

jim you clearly don t know the difference between the path of the runner and the baseline. rounding third at high speed your base path is not the baseline. did you see that the one girl swung so far out, rounding third, that she hit the third base coach? she should have been called out then. you are not allowed contact of that sort. they altered their basepath to get to line and bump the catcher.

the basepath is the natural path of the runner as they round the bases, it is not a straight line

[Lord Jim]

Ah, now I'm starting to understand the problem...

You don't know the rules:

the basepath is the natural path of the runner as they round the bases, it is not a straight line

base path
nounBaseball
noun: base path; plural noun: base paths

the straight-line path from one base to the next, along which a base runner travels while a play is being made.

OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner.

http://umpirebible.com/rules/obstruction.htm

How does throwing an elbow at a runner, thus knocking them away from their path to the plate, not constitute impeding the progress of the runner?

[Lord Jim]

I'm leaning towards frustration being responsible for this player's grossly unsportsmanlike conduct...

I read in another article that in addition to this being the game for the state championship in their division, that she committed these infractions in the middle of a five run inning that turned the game around and cost her team the game and the championship.

So the frustration is understandable, but that does NOT excuse the actions.

[wesw]

your definitions are wrong, the basepath is the direct line between the runner and the base they are trying to reach, not a straight baseline, which is different.

go to the official rules and see for yourself, I m done beating this horse.

the umpire called it right