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I Googled Dixie Ponytail Rules.
According to Rule 12.00 only live ball appeals are allowed. Pitcher has to have ball in the circle and umpire must make ball live. Once the announcement is made they are appealing the pitcher must throw to base missed or go tag it herself to complete the appeal. Runners may advance at own risk after pitcher or ball leaves the circle.
That said Dixie Ponytails must be one of the last organizations to not allow the dead ball appeal. Remember the dead ball appeals bacame popular with most codes because it seemed that only live ball appeals made teams "jump through hoops" to complete it. Additionallly no one was sure of the proper procedure anyway.
Don't take the humorous quips and comments deriding the procedure that some have written personally. You know...jump down spin around pick a dress of cotton, etc. Most of us umpire in codes allowing dead ball appeals so that is why we are so incredulous there is a code sticking only to the archaic way of appealing.
That said I would have handled the situation like some others in this sitch to save time.
As a umpire with 26 years of experience I could quickly run them through the process as a learning tool for both teams. (I would bet the other coach didn't know either).
As a new ump you could just say "Coach, I cannot tell you how to properly appeal. But to save time the runner did touch the plate. Please find out how to properly appeal before asking again during this game"
After the game you could be courteous and tell him the procedure. It should only take a minute or so.
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