Watch: 'Fancy footwork' or illegal run scored... you decide
Sometimes, when it comes to scoring a run, you need to get creative.
In an NCAA women’s softball game between third-ranked Oklahoma and Texas on Sunday, the Sooners’ Lea Wodach used some fancy footwork to evade a tag at home plate to score the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.
Wodach, a senior catcher for Oklahoma, was on third base when teammate Sydney Romero chopped a grounder to the right side.
The throw home was wide right, but Texas catcher Taylor Ellsworth had plenty of time to scramble back to the plate and tag Wodach for the out.
😱 Oklahoma's Lea Wodach avoids the tag at the plate with some fancy footwork. #NCAATop10 pic.twitter.com/1aEyscXeKY
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) April 29, 2018
Wodach, seeing that if she slid home she’d be out, paused and circled around behind home plate.
Ellsworth, who was stretched out across the plate, got up to make the tag, but Wodach saw an opening and dove for the plate for the run.
Wodach shuffle. That was great. Should make ESPN.
— Larry Hall (@LarryGeneHall1) April 29, 2018
The umpire called her safe and the Sooners took a 2-1 lead on their way to a 7-1 home victory.
But should it have counted?
Section 12.4 of the NCAA’s 2018-2019 rule book for women’s softball says the runner is out “when she is running to any base in regular or reverse order, and she attempts to avoid or delay a tag by running out of the base path.”
The question is: Was she out of the base path?
Section 2.6 defines the base path as “the imaginary direct line, and three feet to either side of the line, between a base and a runner’s position at the time a defensive player is attempting to apply a tag. The base path is the traditional path on the infield traveled by a runner who is attempting to advance to the next base.”
You be the judge.
The Sooners improved to 43-3 and 14-0 in the Big 12 play.
Oklahoma softball is seriously the best team out there!
— andrea (@andreasital) April 29, 2018
Texas fell to 28-20 and 10-5 in the league.
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