College softball selection tonight

[as the world turns]

Obstruction at third? It was a question, Zombie. Open for discussion.
She should have gone shoulder first and leveled the third baseman, knocking the ball out of the glove.

[jonriv]

And the answer was it did not look like obstruction

[PDad]

It's not an obvious call with slo-mo replays, so I don't think you can criticize the umpire if they got it wrong. See below for MTR's explanation of "about to receive."

Don't really need a clinic, the NCAA rule is basically the same as what it used to be in NFHS & ASA. "About to receive" is when the ball comes between the runner and the defender. Now, this wording obviously confused most of the people who want to outthink the rules and insisted if that is the point, ATR can never exist if the throw is coming from a direction other the that of the runner. All bodies eventually broke it down as simple as it could possibly get, if the ball gets to the defender before the runner, it is not OBS. The ATR portion of the rules simply protects the defender from being called for OBS if she has the opportunity to get the ball prior to the runner coming to the base.

Runner reached the fielder before the ball, so it looks like what would normally be OBS since the fielder impeded the runner without the ball. However, I'm not sure the runner unimpeded would have reached the base before the fielder got the ball or if that matters (see ATR explanation above).

I'd like to hear from some knowledgeable umps, so I sent a PM to MTR and UmpSteve. Seems like this play is a good opportunity to clarify NCAA's ATR.

[UmpSteve]

It's not an obvious call with slo-mo replays, so I don't think you can criticize the umpire if they got it wrong. See below for MTR's explanation of "about to receive."

Don't really need a clinic, the NCAA rule is basically the same as what it used to be in NFHS & ASA. "About to receive" is when the ball comes between the runner and the defender. Now, this wording obviously confused most of the people who want to outthink the rules and insisted if that is the point, ATR can never exist if the throw is coming from a direction other the that of the runner. All bodies eventually broke it down as simple as it could possibly get, if the ball gets to the defender before the runner, it is not OBS. The ATR portion of the rules simply protects the defender from being called for OBS if she has the opportunity to get the ball prior to the runner coming to the base.

Runner reached the fielder before the ball, so it looks like what would normally be OBS since the fielder impeded the runner without the ball. However, I'm not sure the runner unimpeded would have reached the base before the fielder got the ball or if that matters (see ATR explanation above).

I'd like to hear from some knowledgeable umps, so I sent a PM to MTR and UmpSteve. Seems like this play is a good opportunity to clarify NCAA's ATR.

I really expected this to pop up in the Umpire Corner. That said, I do think the topic deserves a fresh thread, and will do so with commentary from another officiating site.

[PDad]

Thanks UmpSteve!

The new thread - WCWS No-call Game 2 play.