[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

Hi,

Quick question on a situation I had come up this week.

Bases loaded, 2 outs. Batter draws a walk on a pitch that gets away from the catcher. All runners advance. R1 from 3B steps over the plate and doesn't touch it. She's headed to the dugout, about 15' from home. Third base coach notices his runner missed HP and yells to her to touch it. Defensive coach picks up on this and yells to his catcher to "tag her!"

So now the secret is loose, and the catcher who was recovering the ball approaches HP w/ the ball in her possession. Runner turns back towards home to tag it. Before she gets there, F1 has stepped on HP, but now is trying to tag the runner. A little dance ensues and the runner is finally tagged.

I let it play out before making the call.

My question is could I have made the call once the catcher stepped on HP? Whether or not she knew of this type of appeal, the D-coach had awakened the unknowing.

The O-coach was adamant that a runner couldn't be called out on a walk, and I informed him otherwise. He asked if the run would have counted had he not said anything. I said it would have provided the defense did not appeal the missed base or after a pitch had been thrown to the next batter. Had he not said anything, I don't think the defense would have appealed. [There were 2 other instances of missed bases that were never appealed, one on a 2-out hit that scored 2 runs and BR never touched 1B.]

I know if the runner made it into the dugout, she couldn't come back to touch.

Thanx.

Tru_in_Blu:

Did F1 touch HP in response to her coach's instructions or in an attempt to tag R1? If F1 touched HP in response to her coach's instructions, then the defensive appeal has been successful.

MTD, Sr.