Little League play

This is a case of a guy outsmarting himself to the point of convincing himself the plain language meaning is wrong.

Pass means to overtake. The trail runner did not overtake the lead runner. He should not have been called out.

There is no provision in the rules that declares the position of a runner who failed to retouch a base to be at or beyond the base he failed to retouch while returning to a preceding base.  

The only offense here is the failure by the runner to re-touch a base, and re-touch failures are out on appeal.  You shouldn't have bought your partner's concept of a theoretical pass in which nobody is physically overtaken. 

Consider a more blatant example of a theoretical but not actual pass.

Suppose you have runners on first and second. The batter hits a double, driving in both runners, but the lead runner misses third base.  After the play, the defensive team appeals the missed base, and he is declared out.  

By the logic of your partner, he should declare the trail runner out, too.  I mean if the lead runner never touched third base, wouldn't it stand to reason that trail runner must have passed him as soon as he touched third base?  If the trail runner reached third and the lead runner never touched it, he must have passed him, right?

Nope.  This is an example in the high school case book.  The case book ruling is that the run by the trailing runner counts--even though he "theoretically" passed the guy who missed third base.

There's also a rule that leads you to the same conclusion by what it doesn't say.

"A runner who misses a base may not return to touch it after a following runner has scored."  

That rule assumes that a following runner can score even though someone ahead of him missed the base.

You can't create a passing situation by imputing a position to someone based, not on whether he is ahead or behind another runner, but on a missed touch or re-touch.  Your partner made that up.

Another way to look at it is your partner has confused position with status.

To be out for passing a preceding runner his position needs to be ahead of the preceding runner.  

In your play, the trail runner's position was where he happened to be standing.  His status was that of a runner who was liable to being called out on appeal for missing a retouch.  

He shouldn't have been called out.

Thanks for your reasoned and well-articulated response.  I guess my initial instinct was right.  In this particular case, the team on defense was leading 18-1 late in the game, so the offense wasn't interested in arguing the play.

Your partner is WRONG!  Passing occurs when the trail actually overtakes the lead.  Or in rare cases when the lead retreats farther than the trail.  But it is a physical play where the trail is actually (NOT THEORETICALLY) ahead of the lead.

This did NOT happen in your scenario.

Your partner should have kept mum and waited for the defense to appeal that 3rd base was missed "on the last time by".  In high school any appeal can be made via live ball or dead ball.  All the defensive coach has to do is be granted time and walk out and appeal to the proper umpire.

Also remember, the home plate umpire has all touches and retouches of 3rd and home.  So technically, that's YOUR call, not your partners.  Unless of course your state has a different mechanic.

Have fun.

Thanks for your reply.  I've run this scenario past a few colleagues in the last week, and the response has been right in line with what you said.  On the play, I was focused on what appeared was going to be a play at the plate, and my partner, following the trail runner near third, made his call.  To be honest, my sole attention was on the lead runner, so I never saw whether the trail runner touched third or not.