DD tired of poor circles

Some of the circles she has pitched in lately have been poor, not a level surface with some holes. I am thinking of teaching her to leap to just get over all of it and see if she gets called for it.

There is a reason the pitching rules say you don't have to drag the foot along the ground if there is a hole in front of the pitching plate. Leap away, just make sure that when she does pitch on level ground that she reverts back to dragging the back foot. Like I have said before, I have not seen an illegal pitch called for leaping in 12U "A" travel ball for several years. It's also rare not to have a small hole develop in front of the pitching plate after several innings (and games) of the pitchers digging a hole with their pivot foot. Another reason I feel that umpires just don't really see I need to slow the game down with arbitrary IPs calls when there is a hole in front of the plate.

rocket can you point me to this exact verbiage and maybe a link? thanks

There is a reason the pitching rules say you don't have to drag the foot along the ground if there is a hole in front of the pitching plate.

ASA 6.3.K

pivot foot may drag no higher than then level plane of the ground.

I knew the rule it is just hard to try and drag your foot on the ground but not.

Why can't facilities just build a proper pitching lane from the (below) ground up?
It's really not all that expensive, or difficult.
There was a tutorial posted here a few years ago.
Foundation started by loose-laying bricks, then a clay-mix, then,... etc.

So many fields we play on are a very loose, sandy mix in the infield and circle.
(great for sliding, bad for pitching)
That "trench" is well established after about 3 innings, and does not get repaired between games (filled, watered, tamped, etc)

(filled, watered, tamped, etc)

Click to expand...

Wrong sequence.

This is for clay or dirt fields.

Clean out all of the loose field material first.

Water second. Put enough in the hole so it puddles. Be generous with the water.

Back fill the hole with loose field material. Give it a couple of minutes for the loose material to absorb the water from below. Now the back-filled material bonds with the field.

Then tamp and work normally. Most times you don't need to tamp. Step on the filled in area and you can judge how firm it is.

Once you've experimented with your fields you'll be able to judge how much water to use for the fastest and best results.

Sparky Guy said:

Wrong sequence.

This is for clay or dirt fields.

Clean out all of the loose field material first.

Water second. Put enough in the hole so it puddles. Be generous with the water.

Back fill the hole with loose field material. Give it a couple of minutes for the loose material to absorb the water from below. Now the back-filled material bonds with the field.

Then tamp and work normally. Most times you don't need to tamp. Step on the filled in area and you can judge how firm it is.

Once you've experimented with your fields you'll be able to judge how much water to use for the fastest and best results.

Click to expand...

I just posted in the drive mechanics thread nine year old DD issue with deep holes in front of the rubber, and awkwardly driving out of the hole. This time of year the dirt is just dust so hard to fill in the hole. What I see you saying is she needs to smuggle a flask of water into the circle and repair the hole herself.

quincy said:

Some of the circles she has pitched in lately have been poor, not a level surface with some holes. I am thinking of teaching her to leap to just get over all of it and see if she gets called for it.

Click to expand...

Take your DD out to practice on the crappiest pitching circles you can find. Do not doctor them up for her. She needs to learn hot to pitch on them and not make excuses. Take her out when it's cold, wet, rainy windy or any other bad weather situations so she can learn how to handle the ball in less than ideal situations. Especially in the midwest.

Poor pitching circles are a fact of life, and the best advice I can give is for your DD to practice in all types of conditions. If she has perfect practice circles she will be more inclined to be rattled by less than perfect circles in games.

Same holds true for softballs. Use different brands with different seams, different levels of use and have her try throwing a wet ball on occasion. If she only throws one brand of ball that are brand new she may freak out when the tournament you play in uses something she is not familiar with.

my DD has a backhoe for her drag foot and if we are playing against another girl that does the same thing that trench can get close to a foot deep and both pitchers have to deal with it.