We had our rec league playoffs this weekend. There was this one really bizarre play that ended up working in my teams favor but I'm not sure the umpire ruled correctly.
The other team had the go ahead runner on 3rd with one out. It was late in the game so I had the infield in looking to throw the runner out if she goes. Batter hits a slow grounder to 1B. Runner is going but the 1B decides she is going to tag the batter first ad then throw home. Unfortunately she takes the ball out of the glove, tags the batter with the empty glove and throws home late. I see the umpire noticed the miscue by the 1B and has made no call on the batter who thinks she is out. I am yelling at the pitcher to tag the batter. She's confused. The SS knows what is going on and runs to 1B and gets the pitcher to throw to her for the out. In all the confusion the runner who was on 3B is standing on 3B. I asked the other coach why she was back at 3B. He didn't know. We asked the umpire what the situation is and he stated that since the girl went back to 3B on her own then she is still at 3B with no run scored.
I wasn't going to argue this since the call was in my team's favor but once the girl crosses home safely isn't that run in the books? I didn't see how she got back to 3B but I am quite sure she never touched home on her way back to 3B. She was likely next to the bench and went straight to 3B from there. I would think that the only scenarios where the run comes off the board is if she was out on appeal for leaving a base early or not touching a base or she was scoring on a play where the 3rd out of the inning was a force out. None of those scenarios were applicable here. If she had touched home on her way back to 3B would she still be at 3B or would that be negated and the run still count because she already crossed the plate safely.
The other team had the go ahead runner on 3rd with one out. It was late in the game so I had the infield in looking to throw the runner out if she goes. Batter hits a slow grounder to 1B. Runner is going but the 1B decides she is going to tag the batter first ad then throw home. Unfortunately she takes the ball out of the glove, tags the batter with the empty glove and throws home late. I see the umpire noticed the miscue by the 1B and has made no call on the batter who thinks she is out. I am yelling at the pitcher to tag the batter. She's confused. The SS knows what is going on and runs to 1B and gets the pitcher to throw to her for the out. In all the confusion the runner who was on 3B is standing on 3B. I asked the other coach why she was back at 3B. He didn't know. We asked the umpire what the situation is and he stated that since the girl went back to 3B on her own then she is still at 3B with no run scored.
I wasn't going to argue this since the call was in my team's favor but once the girl crosses home safely isn't that run in the books? I didn't see how she got back to 3B but I am quite sure she never touched home on her way back to 3B. She was likely next to the bench and went straight to 3B from there. I would think that the only scenarios where the run comes off the board is if she was out on appeal for leaving a base early or not touching a base or she was scoring on a play where the 3rd out of the inning was a force out. None of those scenarios were applicable here. If she had touched home on her way back to 3B would she still be at 3B or would that be negated and the run still count because she already crossed the plate safely.
In this circumstance, that would be correct, but the statement does not apply to all situations. There are situations when a runner who has touched home plate can retouch and return to 3B as an active runner.
