Runner Interference
Nobody out. Runner on 2nd base. Batter hits a ground ball to the short stop as the runner that is coming from 2nd base and running directly towards 3rd base without stopping passes in front of the short stop fielding the ball. The timing on this play is such that ball, the runner, and the fielder will all merge at the same point on the field. The fielder seeing that a collision with the runner will occur, elects to either stop charging the ball or, does not charge the ball at all, and then misses the ball because the runner ran in front of the fielder. The ball never made contact with the runner. Is there runner interference? Back to Quiz
Play on. This is not runner interference.
Offensive runners should NOT be called out for defensive mistakes. In this case, the runner did exactly what the runner was suppose to do. That is, the runner ran from 2nd to 3rd base in a straight line. It's not the runners fault that the fielder decided to stop charging the ball to avoid a collision, and therefore the runner should not be penalized for a fielding mistake.
Had the fielder continued to do what the fielder is supposed to do, i.e. charge the ball, then contact or almost contact would have occurred provided the runner did not avoid the fielder. In this case, the umpire would kill the play immediately and call the runner out for runner interference.
Remember, simply running in front of a fielder fielding a batted ball should not always result in runner interference, even when the fielder misses the ball.
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