ASA Senior Ball - Second Plate

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

From NUS staff:

The ruling should be that both the runners are out.

The catcher should thoretically touch his home plate twice to retire those runners, however, if he kept his foot in contact with the plate for a reasonable amount of time, both runners should be declared out.

The 2nd home plate was designed to protect the runners and the catcher from any collision situations. Rule 8, Section 9D covers the use of the 2nd Home plate. Letter #6 states that once he passes the committment line he cannot return. If he goes back he is out, and if the catcher's tag of his home plate beats the runner reaching the 2nd home plate, that runner is also out. The description in your play fits in with the above.

So, if he just did a quick stab of home plate or runs across it only the first runner is out?

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by Dakota

So, if he just did a quick stab of home plate or runs across it only the first runner is out?

I had troubles with that as well. I mean, as a parallel, if you had two runners side-by-side, you could conceivably tag both of them with your glove at the same time and have both of them out. You shouldn't need to do two separate steps to get the outs at HP.

To me, the rule is clear: if both runners have passed the commitment line, they're both called out when the defensive player has the ball and touches home plate. There should be no other required action by the defense.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Dakota

So, if he just did a quick stab of home plate or runs across it only the first runner is out?

Are you going to call it that way?

I'm not. I agree that the play should apply to all runners. Don't like the use of the second plate, but if that is what these folks want, they need to live with the rule.