Nice slide.... but....

[fasterpitch92701]

blockandtag.jpg (56.72 KiB) Viewed 7623 times

[heybucket]

She is out? lol

[fasterpitch92701]

Yep. Ball caught, runner slid into the planted right leg of the catcher, coming to an abrupt halt in a pile of dirt.

[TNSoftballDad]

I think I see some early slide blur!

[CallingCadence14]

She'd of been safe, if she'd of slid head first!!!

[chazbz1]

Is this a force out? If not, the catcher does not yet have possession of the ball. By the time the ball is fully in the glove, the slider's leg will be past the catcher's leg. She should make contact with the plate before the catcher can sweep the tag. (She should be safe...don't you wish fastpitch had instant replay?!!!) Also to be considered is the position of the catcher in regards to the base-path...We had a similar situation last season and the catcher was called for obstructing the baseline.

[wadeintothem]

Is this a force out? If not, the catcher does not yet have possession of the ball. By the time the ball is fully in the glove, the slider's leg will be past the catcher's leg. She should make contact with the plate before the catcher can sweep the tag. (She should be safe...don't you wish fastpitch had instant replay?!!!) Also to be considered is the position of the catcher in regards to the base-path...We had a similar situation last season and the catcher was called for obstructing the baseline.

You can't tell by that picture whether there was obstruction or not. There COULD have been obstruction. The OP states the runner hit the catchers leg (and came to a stop ? presumably not reaching home plate?).

If the runner was not impeded to the point in that picture, and if the impeding of the runner happened after the catcher caught the ball (which obviously was 1/10th of a second after picture).. there was no obstruction.

It is not illegal to "obstruct the baseline". That is not the rule.

Based on that picture and the op's description of the play, I highly doubt I would have called obstruction.

I call that play "softball".

[watcher]

That catcher (in my eyes) is in no way, shape, or form blocking the plate, The runner has a clear path to home-plate.

[Martin]

Looks legal to me.

I would have coached the catcher to line up in front of the plate instead at the rear. The ball has to travel another 2-3 feet because of this position. It is exactly this sort of play where that extra split-second can make a difference.