high school fastpitch

Question

one out, runner on first. batter hits ball over fence, first runner crosses plate, batter jumps over plate and clearly misses touching plate. she heads toward dugout, opposing team steps on plate holding ball. umpire calls batter out. one run scores. is this the correct call? at what point is the runner past the point of returning to touch and would you not have to tag runner as this is not a force out?

Answer
If a baserunner misses a base, that can be appealed as soon as they have passed the base.  Typically this happens as a dead ball appeal, but it can be a live ball appeal as well.  And yes the appeal can be made by an infielder touching the missed based while in possesion of the the ball.  The player can also tag the runner that missed the base providing that the runner is still in the field of play.

So the umpire was correct.  

The runner is past the point of returning once they have left the field of play.  

You do not need to tag the runner on an appeal play.  

Last, this is not a force out, it is an out on appeal.  Force outs can only be on runners going to first base or on other runners being forced to advance by preceding runners.