Teammates’ handslap to home run hitter erases victory

Central Lakes College lost a tournament game when a home run was disallowed because the hitter hit hands with teammates before touching home. Turns out, the ruling was wrong.

By MICHAEL RAND, Star Tribune

Last update: May 5, 2009 - 12:47 PM

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At a Minnesota Junior College Athletic Conference state tournament game Friday, the Central Lakes softball team from Brainerd had an apparent walk-off home run over the No. 1 team in the nation overturned because of an obscure rule that seems to have been applied improperly.

CLC's pitcher, who had thrown a no-hitter through seven innings, gave up four runs in the ninth and Central Lakes lost the game to Rochester Community and Technical College -- and was eliminated from the tournament in the process.

Other than that, head coach Heidi Rogge -- who has been on the job for two weeks after the previous coach resigned -- enjoyed her weekend.

"Nobody started crying," Rogge said Monday. "I was actually very surprised."

What happened?

CLC's Ashly Erickson homered in the bottom of the seventh inning to seemingly win the game. But as she rounded third base and headed for home, Erickson slapped hands with several jubilant teammates before crossing the plate. That's customary for CLC; it's also a no-no according to the rules.

Rochester coach Jean Musgjerd, who said Monday, "I always have a rule book in my bag," went out to argue. The umpire left the field to confer with a superior and eventually ruled the play was an out.

"You don't want to win in that way, but you have to play by the rules," said Musgjerd, Rochester's coach since 1994. "You get schooled on the rulebook, and you find out really fast that you need to know it."

But wait: by the time Rogge was reached Monday, a Star Tribune review of the NCAA softball rules -- which also govern the NJCAA -- found this: "Offensive team personnel, other than base coaches and runner(s), shall not touch a batter or base runner(s) who is legally running the bases on a dead-ball award until the player(s) contacts home plate. For a first offense, the umpire shall issue a warning to the offending team."

"Exactly," said Rogge, who by then had delved into the rulebook as well, though not in time to file a protest. "It should have been a warning."

Regardless of whether it should have been a warning or an out ...

"Almost every other coach came up to me after the game and said they would have said, 'Nice hit' and shook hands," Rogge said.

Said Musgjerd: "I don't care what the score is. You can't call rules certain ways sometimes and not other times."

The silver lining? Both teams still advanced to their respective region tournaments this coming weekend. There's a chance they could meet again if both make it to nationals.

"The girls have learned their lesson, and they kind of joke about it now," Rogge said. "But it's still bittersweet."

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