Walk-off walk advancing runner out?

[Yivv]

Situation: bottom of an extra inning game. Tied game, bases loaded with 2 outs, and pitcher throws ball four.  Base runners advance...a walk off "walk".  Third base runner gets a high five from a teammate before he touches home plate.  However, he DOES touch home plate. That is not in question. Opposing team coaches say he is out because a teammate touched him.  Umpire agrees, calls runner out which goes another inning.  Team which had the win, ends up losing next inning. Was the umpires call correct?

[Jimurray]

6 minutes ago, Yivv said:

Situation: bottom of an extra inning game. Tied game, bases loaded with 2 outs, and pitcher throws ball four.  Base runners advance...a walk off "walk".  Third base runner gets a high five from a teammate before he touches home plate.  However, he DOES touch home plate. That is not in question. Opposing team coaches say he is out because a teammate touched him.  Umpire agrees, calls runner out which goes another inning.  Team which had the win, ends up losing next inning. Was the umpires call correct?

Baseball no. Softball I don't know but it's different. If it was baseball you didn't have umpires, you had clowns.

[jjb]

Softball, same rule. Rule myth...As an Umpire (33 years), my fellow Umpire's an idiot..'nuff said.....

[ElkOil]

There was a rules clarification handed down a few years back about this, which specifically states a high five is NOT considered an assist and does not result in an out. The umpire got it wrong.

[Aging_Arbiter]

7 hours ago, ElkOil said:

7 hours ago, Yivv said:

Opposing team coaches say he is out because a teammate touched him.  Umpire agrees

The umpire got it wrong.

The umpire getting it wrong was the 2nd mistake.  The 1st, was listening to the coach.

[beerguy55]

This WAS a rule in NCAA softball a few years ago, but even then the first offense was a warning, not an out.   

Even if I'm not 100% sure I'd have the game under protest before the ump finished saying the word "out".

16 hours ago, Jimurray said:

Baseball no. Softball I don't know but it's different. If it was baseball you didn't have umpires, you had clowns.

 

15 hours ago, jjb said:

Softball, same rule. Rule myth...As an Umpire (33 years), my fellow Umpire's an idiot..'nuff said.....

Edit: these were the NCAA softball rules in 2015 - not sure if they're still in place.

 

9.6.3 Offensive team personnel shall not interfere with a runner(s) who is legally running the bases on a dead-ball award until the player(s) contacts home plate nor with the umpire’s ability to see that all bases are properly touched.
9.6.3.1 Offensive team personnel, other than base coaches and base runner(s) shall not touch a runner(s) until the player(s) contacts home plate.
9.6.3.2 Offensive team personnel shall congregate only in foul territory around home plate to congratulate the runner(s).
EFFECT—For a first offense of Rule 9.6.3, the umpire shall issue a warning to the offending team. A subsequent offense of Rule 9.6.3.1 shall result in the player touched immediately declared out and credited with the last base legally touched at the time of interference. A subsequent offense of Rule 9.6.3.2 shall result in the batter-runner being declared out and credited with the last base legally touched at the time team personnel entered fair territory.

 

[MadMax]

3 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

This WAS a rule in NCAA softball a few years ago, but even then the first offense was a warning, not an out.   

See, you saying this inclines me to propose that this rule you speak of was not an "Assistance Rule", but a thinly veiled "Unsportsmanlike Conduct Rule". The NCAA, in particular, walks this ridiculously oscillating line as to what is acceptable "joy and enthusiasm of amateur athletic accomplishment" and unacceptable "taunting". Football, basketball, hockey, the two batsports... heck, soccer probably as well... each of them has moments of athletic accomplishment, often at the expense of a bested or defeated opponent. Our culture is so hypersensitive to and repulsed by defeat that it builds in rules and penalties to restrict any celebrations... why? Because the defeated don't know how to handle it, feel humiliated and embarrassed, and backlash. It's the backlash we as a culture most fear.

So yeah, your pitcher walks in the winning run because he/she can't find the strike zone, and now is on the verge of tears, watching some kid on 3B jump up in the air a few times, laugh, and slap a high-five with the 3BC or the ODH waiting at the plate. Your entire team feels so bad, and that other team has such poor class in winning, just look at your catcher standing out there, amongst all those classless kids jumping around... time to teach someone a lesson...

"Hey Blue, he/she assisted the runner!"

[beerguy55]

58 minutes ago, MadMax said:

See, you saying this inclines me to propose that this rule you speak of was not an "Assistance Rule", but a thinly veiled "Unsportsmanlike Conduct Rule". The NCAA, in particular, walks this ridiculously oscillating line as to what is acceptable "joy and enthusiasm of amateur athletic accomplishment" and unacceptable "taunting". Football, basketball, hockey, the two batsports... heck, soccer probably as well... each of them has moments of athletic accomplishment, often at the expense of a bested or defeated opponent. Our culture is so hypersensitive to and repulsed by defeat that it builds in rules and penalties to restrict any celebrations... why? Because the defeated don't know how to handle it, feel humiliated and embarrassed, and backlash. It's the backlash we as a culture most fear.

So yeah, your pitcher walks in the winning run because he/she can't find the strike zone, and now is on the verge of tears, watching some kid on 3B jump up in the air a few times, laugh, and slap a high-five with the 3BC or the ODH waiting at the plate. Your entire team feels so bad, and that other team has such poor class in winning, just look at your catcher standing out there, amongst all those classless kids jumping around... time to teach someone a lesson...

"Hey Blue, he/she assisted the runner!"

The rule does say that the coach can touch the runner, so I agree with your assessment that this is less an "assistance rule" and more a thinly disguised "sportsmanship rule".  I know part of it is letting the umpire see the plate.

It would be less a problem if girls didn't celebrate every damn home run like it was a walk off.