[UmpireErnie]

So maybe the key "take away" point is that for returning to a base left too soon on a caught fly ball the "tag up" cannot legally happen until all the other bases the runner needed to touch on the way back are in fact legally touched. Hence the appeal is valid but probably for a different reason than the defense is going to be verbalizing.

My question now is, how picky are you going to be about how the defense phrases the appeal? They are not "guessing", they know a baserunning error has occured, but they are not rule book lawyers; we are. IMO, its enough that the offense knows she missed the base, and why she had to touch it.

Coach: "Blue I want to appeal that runner missed 2B!"
Me: "When was that coach?"
Coach: "On her way to tag up at 1B."
Me: "And why did she have to go back to 1B?"
Coach: (Looking puzzled at this point but still swinging) "Um, becuase she left 1B before the ball was caught?"
Me: (So proud of this coach that I am not even bothering to correct the Coach's verbage about caught vs. first touched): "Yes, you are correct Coach! Appeal granted, OUT!"