Out Of Play Rule

Question
The field we were playing on only had a HR fence and the out of play area was chalked about twenty feet past the foul lines.  Our team was in the field and the opposition had a baserunner on second and third base.  A batter hit a pop fly in foul territory and the third baseman ran into foul territory and made a catch over his shoulder.  His forward momentum caused him to cross the chalked out of play line.  The umpire called the batter out, however the runner on second and third both got to advance one base automatically.  Is this a legitimate rule or was it made up by the umpire?  Everybody was really confused and I was mad because I was the third baseman.  I couldn't find it in the ASA rules anywhere.  I find it crazy to think that a player is expected to keep an eye on the ball, the line on the ground, and anything in the player's path.

Answer
Hi John,

The umpire made the correct call, if everyone was confused it's a good thing you had an umpire that knows the rules, makes for an overall better game.

You see this much more on non-enclosed fields, on an enclosed field you might have seriously hurt yourself by running into the fence.  However had you went into the fence and fallen over it to the other side (some fields have pretty short fences) the result would have been the same call.

It's called a "catch and carry"....ASA 8-5-J When a live ball is unintentionally carried by a fielder from live ball territory.

EFFECT: The ball is dead and runners are awarded one base from the last
base touched at the time the fielder left live ball territory.

It is a basic rule of softball so no use being mad about it, we as umpires have to enforce it.

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