Missed plate after home run

[Scooby]

Dead Ball Appeal Situation
May 2, 2017
Situation: The batter hits an out-of-the-park home run but does not touch home plate. How
does the defense make an appeal without the ball?
Ruling: The runner can return and touch home plate as long as she has not entered the dugout.
By rule, a runner may not return to touch a missed base if she has touched the final base of her
award (see Rule 12.22.4.5) so the only base she can return to on an out-of-the-park home run is
home plate. If she has gone into the dugout she has left the field of play and cannot return to
touch the plate (Rule 12.22.5.1).
This is a dead ball appeal. The appeal cannot be made until the ball is put back in play (Rule
7.1.2.2.3). Handing the ball to the catcher and her throwing it to the pitcher does not “put the
ball back in play”. By rule, with the ball out of play, the defense cannot appeal a missed base
until the ball is put back in play, the defense is in position, the next batter summoned to the
batter’s box and the umpire indicates “Play Ball” (Rule 6.10.4).
A dead ball remains dead until an umpire indicates resumption of play (Rule 1.14).

[RKBUmp]

So in other words, in NCAA if the ball goes out of play there is no such thing as a dead ball appeal for any infraction. The ball has to be put back into live play before any appeal can be made.

[robbie]

Originally Posted by RKBUmp

So in other words, in NCAA if the ball goes out of play there is no such thing as a dead ball appeal for any infraction. The ball has to be put back into live play before any appeal can be made.

And furthermore to extrapolate the logic one does not have to run out a walk off HR?

[MT 73]

The coach in the white long sleeve shirt saw her miss the plate and was trying to get her attention to go back and touch it.
Before the home run hitter could enter the dugout she grabbed her and guided her back towards the plate.
Would that qualify for an out?

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by MT 73

The coach in the white long sleeve shirt saw her miss the plate and was trying to get her attention to go back and touch it.
Before the home run hitter could enter the dugout she grabbed her and guided her back towards the plate.
Would that qualify for an out?

The NCAA rule for runner assistance violations only occur during a live ball. See rule 12.8.3.

[MT 73]

Originally Posted by Manny A

The NCAA rule for runner assistance violations only occur during a live ball. See rule 12.8.3.

That's right. Thanks.
I do not do NCAA but I think the same rule applies USA and NHFS.
Now in this case was the appeal legit?
Does the ball have to be made live for an appeal in NCAA?

[BretMan]

NFHS: It's not clear if assisting the runner could only be called during a live ball. Their rule says that a coach may not assist a runner "during playing action". Does that mean when the ball is live? Nothing in the their case book seems to address this point.

USA/ASA: Their rule states that the ball must be live to call assisting a runner. But...they also have a case play where a runner misses home plate, after on over the fence home run, and is pushed back toward the plate just before entering the dugout. The ruling is that this runner would be out. So, it's the lone exception to their rule.

This sounds like one of those rules where the printed rule pretty much matches throughout multiple organizations, but they've issued interpretations that deviate away from each other, based on various "what if" and "maybe" scenarios.

Kind of like with an intentionally dropped ball. The rules all agree that you can't intentionally drop the ball in certain situations. But I can think of at least four different ways that a "dropped ball" is defined by four different sanctioning bodies!