Interference and dead ball-out?

[nohesitation]

I’m looking for some seasoned feedback on two calls I made.
Situation 1: Friendly, 14u (Both teams headed for Premier), no runners on, no outs. B1 hits high pop fly towards first, BR1 is tracking the ball and starts running down the line in foul territory, BR1 sees F3 coming in to catch the ball and stops. F3 sees BR1 and stops. Both players are standing about 3 feet apart and the ball lands between them about 18” in foul ground and stays foul. I looked at my base ump and he said nothing and I said foul ball. Was it batter runner interference?
Situation 2: NFHS (one umpire) game. Butted ball rolls into stationary bat in fair territory. The ball would have stayed fair without contact. I ruled fair ball. Then after the game went home and all I could find in the NFHS book is 7-4-13. When I made the call I was thinking of the ASA rule 7-6-K exception 2. Is there a NFHS equivalent to ASA in this case or is it dead ball out in NFHS?

[Comp]

In your first situation, sounds like the BR stopped and gave room for F3 to make the play, not her fault F3 stopped and let ball drop. Foul ball.

In your second post, you haven answered your own question. You say the bat was stationary when the ball hit it. Once out of the batters hands and the bat is stationary on the field, it becomes part of the field. Rule states if bat hits ball a second time, by your own description, the ball hit the bat. Live ball.

[nohesitation]

Thanks Comp. I wasn’t vigilant reading 7-4-13.

[UmpSteve]

+1

In the first play, the defender is protected while fielding a batted ball. If she stops (or doesn't attempt) fielding, she is obstructing the runner.

Second play pretty much self-explanatory.

[Anti-Clone]

With respect to your second question, whether the ball would have stayed fair is not overly relevant. There is no interference as you describe the play though. If the ball hit the bat in fair territory and rolled foul (whether it would have remained fair had it not hit the ball) the ball is foul by rule.

[nohesitation]

Thanks for the input guys.
Anti-clone: I agree “the ball would have stayed fair without contact” part wasn’t necessary.
UmpSteve: With F3 standing in fair territory and BR1 standing in foul territory, obstruction would be a tuff sell, in this case. At the after the game chat with my base ump, he though it should have been BR interference.

[ajaywill]

I’m looking for some seasoned feedback on two calls I made.
Situation 1: Friendly, 14u (Both teams headed for Premier), no runners on, no outs. B1 hits high pop fly towards first, BR1 is tracking the ball and starts running down the line in foul territory, BR1 sees F3 coming in to catch the ball and stops. F3 sees BR1 and stops. Both players are standing about 3 feet apart and the ball lands between them about 18” in foul ground and stays foul. I looked at my base ump and he said nothing and I said foul ball. Was it batter runner interference?
Situation 2: NFHS (one umpire) game. Butted ball rolls into stationary bat in fair territory. The ball would have stayed fair without contact. I ruled fair ball. Then after the game went home and all I could find in the NFHS book is 7-4-13. When I made the call I was thinking of the ASA rule 7-6-K exception 2. Is there a NFHS equivalent to ASA in this case or is it dead ball out in NFHS?

I agree with the responses for Sit 2.

However, I will throw some salt in on Sit 1. Let me start by saying that as with most was it/wasn't it interference scenarios, it is really difficult to comment on without actually seeing the play. Interference is the act of an offensive player that hinders a defensive player from making a play. In your play, the BR made the act of stopping her advance to first base. Is it possible that this act caused the defense to stop to avoid a collision with the offensive player...yes, it's possible. However, I would also agree with Steve that when the defensive player stopped, she was no longer attempting a play and could not be interferred with. I could make a case for a call or a no-call.

Bottom line.....it's a judgement call on the part of the umpire that sees the play. From your description of the play, I could go either way. If I had seen the actual play, I may think differently and have a definitive answer.