Question for the experts

No contact made with player or throw.
The interference call for being outside the lane has been made MANY times in our games over the past couple of years regardless of contact with another player or being hit by the throw.

 

From the NFHS Softball Rulebook:

The only way a runner can advance a base is if she reached the next base before the interference took place.​

 

For it to be interference, and the BR be out (and runners held, etc.), she must actually interfere with the throw (in the umpire's judgement). While your mileage will unfortunately vary from umpire to umpire, causing the catcher to try to throw over the runner would not be normally be considered interference. The catcher has the option of stepping further into the field or hitting the runner in the back and getting a clear interference call if the BR is in the wrong place.

The BR being out of the running lane is not, by itself, interference.

 

We have had the call made before there was an attempt to throw.

 

I beg to differ. If a play is about to be made and the runner is out of the running lane it is interference...just my opinion, but I believe that is why the rule was written.

 

DD, being a catcher, 1st baseman, and now a 3rd baseman, has been taught to throw directly to the bag. DD throws extremely hard. If the runner is hit with the throw and manages to limp or drag herself to the bag, she will definately understand why there is a running lane.

I do not advocate intentionally hitting any player with a thrown ball. However, the rules are set-up to give the runner a "safe lane" to run to 1st base. I would not lay the full blame on the runner. I would lay some of it on the coaching. I have been ask numerous times by girls when I am lining the field about what the line along the 1st base foul line is for. This indicates that the girls have not been taught the rules of the game.