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Originally Posted by Dakota
Once you revealed this was professional ball, I was wondering about something like this.
It is certainly not a call that "sells" the game - to the casual fan, it would appear to be a bit arcane or technical, and it takes away the "obvious win."
MLB used to have a tradition to ignore this kind of situation, until it was actually called in a fairly important game - maybe even a world series??? I don't remember the details... even though I think they were posted here or one of the other umpire boards fairly recently.
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I can recall when Mark McGuire broke the HR record (not to open another can of worms
) and, when celebrating at first base, was directed by the first base coach with a point (and a push?) to touch the base.
Not softball, but certainly a parallel situation. Was he 'assisted' to the base that he may have otherwise missed? I know that it wasn't called nor any objections registered by the defense.
I will say that, IMO, the call was correct. NPF follows NCAA rules with some modifications.
Rule 9, Sec10d - Coach Interference: A coach or anyone other than another runner... may not physically assist (e.g.,
touch, hold, push) a base runner while the ball is
in play.
OP = bases loaded walk (ball is in play) and a player touches (forget about possibly directs/pushes) the BR to advance to first.