Called out at the plate for being out of the baseline

[softballfaz]

I am not a student of the rules of the game. "But I saw a call where a girl was called out at the plate for being out of the baseline." She made a backdoor slide touching that plate on the slide with her hand. She had to slide around the catcher since the catcher was in position to receive the throw. I thought if you could make contact with the base you would still be in the baseline.

Any insight?

 

[cobb_of_fury]

Correct me if I'm wrong; the "Baseline" is a three foot wide path in a straight line from the runners starting point.
Not sure it's possible to be "out of the baseline" and still touch home.

 

[BretMan2]

The runner's basepath is defined as a straight line directly to the base she is trying to reach when a tag is being attempted. A tag requires that the fielder be in possession of the ball and actually attempting to touch the runner with it. If a tag is being attempted, then the runner can deviate by no more than three feet to either side of the straight line.

If the catcher didn't have the ball yet, then two things:

1) You can't call the runner for being out of the basepath. If the fielder doesn't have the ball, then no tag is being attempted, so the runner isn't restricted to any defined basepath. She could run circles around the catcher if she wanted to...so long as no tag is being made.

2) If the catcher didn't have the ball, and the runner had to go out of her basepath to go around her, then this was probably obstruction.

Besides all that...if a runner slides and is still able to reach the base with her hand, then she is obviously NOT out of the basepath!

 

[SoCal_Dad]

A base line is the imaginary line between 2 bases and has no relevance to OP's call.