Baserunning rule

Question

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Followup To

Question -
I play in an over 60 men's softball league.  The following situation occured.  Runner A is standing on 1st base.  The batter hits a line drive that strikes runner A while he is still standing on 1st base.  The ruling on the field was that the batter is awarded 1st base and Runner A is awarded 2nd base because the ball was not retrieved by a fielder who tagged out runner A.  This seems bizarre to me.  I feel at least one of the players should be out on the play.  What's the correct call?

Answer -
Hi Jeff,

As long as the runner did not intentionally interfere with the batted ball 1 of 2 things can happen

1) If the closest defensive player is in front of the base the runner has contact with, we continue to have a live ball.


2) If the closest defensive player is behind the base the runner has contact with, we have a dead ball, award b-r 1st base (on a hit) and advance other runners only if forced.

mark

Mark - is that answer the same in baseball as it is in softball?

Answer
Hi Jeff,

thank you for the kind rating.

I'm afraid I can't help you on your follow up question as I've never umpired a baseball game in my adult life.

BTW my answer for your softball question is POE 44 in the 2006 book lest any of your friends dispute the rule.

Mark