Alabama softball player homers, misses plate, gets tagged out

Well, this is something you don’t see every day.

We head to SEC softball action on Monday, as Alabama was taking on Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide were trailing 3-2 in the top of the third inning when freshman Bailey Hemphill hit one over the left field wall to tie the game.

Except, well, no, she didn’t. Here’s the video:

As Hemphill leapt into the waiting embrace of her teammates, she missed the plate, and by the time she realized her mistake Ole Miss had already appealed, tagging both the plate and Hemphill. And she was called out.

It is the right call, but it’s such a weird situation. On one hand, she hit it over the fence, which is indisputably the most important aspect of the home run, not the rounding of the bases and the cursory touching of home plate.

This is very much not the same thing as asking whether the wheels or the engine is more vital to the function of a car. Hitting it over the fence is the engine, and the wheels, and the steering, and the brakes. Touching home plate is the broken left brake light I didn’t fix for 6 years on my old Sebring convertible.

But on the other hand, it’s really not hard at all to just touch the damn plate. It’s right there! Just touch it! She was very excited to join the full mob of teammates that were celebrating a home run in the third inning that was going to tie the game, which is part of the problem. (I’m honestly, truthfully not a “Don’t have fun out there!” sports person, but that’s a part of college softball that has always annoyed me a bit.) If you can’t be bothered to do something as simple as touch the plate after a home run trot, you don’t really deserve the run.

If you’re wondering how this play was scored, as I was, the answer is this:

The official scorer was apparently wondering how it was scored on a scoreboards for softball, as well. I guess that kind of makes sense? She was awarded with all three bases that she did touch, and then the appeal forced her out at home? This kind of thing is never supposed to happen after a home run, where the dead ball aspect (because, again, the ball was in the stands in left) negates the traditional element of an appeal.

Making things worse, Alabama lost the game 5-4 on a walkoff single. Hopefully, Hemphill gets a few more homers for redemption this season.