The header rtc.h has this comment:
//! \brief Stops RTC running. //! //! This function does software reset for RTC.
The implementation in rtc.c is:
void RTC_stop(uint16_t baseAddress) { HWREG16(baseAddress + OFS_RTCCTL) &= ~RTCSS_3; }
As I read the code, it only sets the clock source to 0b00. (Which SLAU445 says is a reserved value, which is another discrepancy? I assume that if the clock source is zero, the counter is stopped from ticking.) That codes does not set the RTCSR bit of the control register (which SLAU445 says is the bit that does software reset and clears the counter.)
So my understanding is that it stops the counter from ticking, but does not clear the counter.
A function to clear the counter or to software reset the RTC is missing from the library. See my previous post about missing functions.