Home plate ump

Question
My daughter played in a 14u USSSA tournament this weekend and was called out at home, and it could have been called either way. My issue is not necessarily with her being called out, but would like to know what she should have done in this situation. While running home, the catcher was standing near the top of the plate, waiting for the ball to be thrown to her, she was not obstructing the plate in any way. But, the ump had positioned himself with his right foot in the batter's box and his left foot slightly over the baseline. As she was nearly to home plate, the ball was thrown and the ump still did not move, so instead of sliding as she would normally do, she chose to stay upright and step over the ump's foot and was tagged as her foot hit the base. Her coach really did not have an answer as to what she should have done, and I understand there are no rules regarding obstruction for the umps and interference does not apply, according to the rule book. So, should she have went ahead and slid, even if it knocked the ump over, and if she had, would any penalties be imposed? She does not want to get hurt or hurt anyone and hopefully this situation will occur again, as I have never seen it happen before. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Chandra,

The PU should have not been in that position and there would be no penalty for knocking them over by sliding.

This is more a coaching q than a rule q.  Ask Tom, he coaches a lot and you'll get a more more complete answer from him.

M