Tennessee Softball Hosed On Home Run Call During CWS, Nearly Costs Them A Victory

The women's College World Series had the entire sports community talking on Sunday afternoon, thanks to a seventh-inning umpire blunder that nearly cost Tennessee a victory against UCLA and the right to advance to Monday's semifinals. 

Facing off in an elimination game in Oklahoma City, the No. 7-seeded Lady Vols played UCLA in a highly contested game filled with clutch home runs and fantastic pitching. But it was the umpiring crew, along with the official review team, that made the biggest headlines in this pivotal matchup. 

In the seventh inning, with Tennessee leading 4-2 and one out away from advancing, UCLA's Megan Grant hit a two-run homer that tied the game. Or, that's what the Bruins were hoping for after a gaffe by Grant was captured on the ESPN broadcast. 

While heading home to finish off the homer, Grant inadvertently skipped over home base while her team mobbed her. One of her teammates, Alexis Ramirez, realized what had happened and escorted her back so she could touch home and officially tie the game. 

Controversy ensued.

It was pretty clear that Grant did not touch home plate, and Tennessee challenged the play. Officials took nearly 10 minutes to review the play at NCAA headquarters, while the umpires on the field waited for the ruling. Following the lengthy review, the head umpire delivered the news to fans across the country watching at home. 

"After the review, the call on the field is upheld, and the run will score. The runner did miss home plate, and was assisted. However, that play is not reviewable, according to Appendix G." 

According to the broadcast, since the umpires did not see the miss of home plate live, it could not be reviewed. At that moment, Vols coach Karen Weekly tried to file a protest, but was not allowed to since the play was not reviewable, which led to further confusion for viewers at home. 

Play resumed after tempers settled down. Tennessee ended up winning the game two innings later on a Laura Mealer RBI single with the bases loaded in the ninth.

For the Vols, who play Texas in the semifinals on Monday, all's well that ended well.