Illegal pitching, acceptable !?!

[ArkFastpitch]

]One of the problems with illegal pitching is it takes someone like Kelly Barnhill for coaches to get upset about it. If she was throwing 60 MPH no one would care if she crow hops.

My thoughts exactly... Nobody complains about a pitcher pitching illegally when she is getting shelled. It's only when the other team can't even smell what she's throwing do they get all analytical with the rule book. Are they really concerned with the illegal pitching or just upset that they are getting dominated?

 

[riseball]

]One of the problems with illegal pitching is it takes someone like Kelly Barnhill for coaches to get upset about it. If she was throwing 60 MPH no one would care if she crow hops.

My thoughts exactly... Nobody complains about a pitcher pitching illegally when she is getting shelled. It's only when the other team can't even smell what she's throwing do they get all analytical with the rule book. Are they really concerned with the illegal pitching or just upset that they are getting dominated?

In the case of Barnhill it is both. Because if she is not leaping she is just throwing BP. She is the poster child for pitchers gaining a competitive advantage by pitching illegally. When looking at an illegal pitcher the question you have to ask is how would they perform if the rules were enforced and they pitched legally? The answer with regard to Barnhill and 98.4% of the other cases is that they would get shelled.

 

[Rocketech1]

When looking at an illegal pitcher the question you have to ask is how would they perform if the rules were enforced and they pitched legally? The answer with regard to Barnhill and 98.4% of the other cases is that they would get shelled.

I'm sure she would do just fine with practice. She likely got into a bad habit of pitching that way when she was younger and very difficult to make changes to the motion once its been ingrained for 10 years + of pitching that way. It would be the same if a heavy drag pitcher, now had to convert to a slight crow hop, it initially would be difficult but she would adjust over time. The drive mechanics is only one aspect to the pitching motion and most top level pitchers have excellent arm whip mechanics, including Barnhill 90% of pitching IMO.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I'm sure she would do just fine with practice. She likely got into a bad habit of pitching that way when she was younger and very difficult to make changes to the motion once its been ingrained for 10 years + of pitching that way. It would be the same if a heavy drag pitcher, now had to convert to a slight crow hop, it initially would be difficult but she would adjust over time. The drive mechanics is only one aspect to the pitching motion and most top level pitchers have excellent arm whip mechanics, including Barnhill 90% of pitching IMO.

I think Barnhill should skip college and jump right to the pro fastpitch league where it's accepted again. Wonder if any player did that => skip college and "go pro"

 

[JAD]

I think Barnhill should skip college and jump right to the pro fastpitch league where it's accepted again. Wonder if any player did that => skip college and "go pro"

Considering the cost of college, a player like Barnhill probably nets more with a "full ride" to UF than she would as a pitcher in the NPF...

 

[Softball scholar]

Maybe Im bending the thread here, but I was just looking at some pitching technique on you tube last night, and I came across some Mens fastpitch games. I was watching the ISF World Championship between Canada and New Zealand. Every pitcher was leaping. They had about 5 pitchers in the game and the pivot foot was way off the ground. One pitcher landed about two feet to the left of the pitchers mound. It just looks different. Anyway, I never understood why they have to make pitching so restrictive and more difficult for the women.

One thing that I take away from it was the men had some really good drive and the drag of the pivot foot didn't slow them down. My DD pivot foot drags deep when she pitches. She puts a 2 inch deep groove in the dirt. I think Im going to try to get her to glide across the surface to get less drag. Also just wondering from an injury perspective. Is it good to have the women dragging their pivot feet? I know of one of DD friends had a stress fracture on her drag foot, well from dragging. Would it be healthier if we got rid of the drag rule? Im sure some purists are flipping out by just asking the question.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Considering the cost of college, a player like Barnhill probably nets more with a "full ride" to UF than she would as a pitcher in the NPF...

Well Abbott got 6 figures the other day! That's a bit more than 300K

Ya yer probably right - just thought she would be more accepted there in that non-rules environment (relative to skipping)

 

[KCPRK]

I dont know much about showcases but, I know this... if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying!!!!! ha ha I tell all my girls, "win if you can, lose if you have to but, always, always cheat!!!". ha ha. Of course I'm not being serious. But threads like this always make me wonder.. did you see if any runner's left early? Were slapper's out of the box? Did the base coaches stay in their coach box to avoid picking the pitcher? Things like that. It's always the pitcher labeled as cheating.

One would like to think if a girl is illegal coaches would move on from her immediately. But, a college coach has a harder time than a HS coach. Lets face it, HS coaches get delivered who they get for pitching and it's entirely dependent on the local feeder system or a girl moving to your school district. A college coach has to prognosticate how good someone will be in 2 years, how much she will mature, etc. That's hard to do without a crystal ball.

Bill

At this years Colorado Sparkler/Firecracker they were calling runners for leaving early and slappers and even bunters out of the box quite a bit. These calls were borderline most of the time but the umpires said theyre told to focus on it.

I reviewed the video of all my players and all the calls were borderline or bs.

Now they did nothing about pitchers that I saw.

 

[Hillhouse]

KCPRK, I'm glad they looked at the runners. Question: Was there 3 umps or 2? You need 3 if you're going to cover it all. Without multiple umpires, it's REALLY hard to see some things without all 3. Such as: why do hitters kick out the batter's box? Slappers do the front, power hitters do the back. It's to gain an advantage. It's hard to see THAT with a runner on base, watching for IP's, and plate ump looking for runner leaving early.

Bill

 

[riseball]

Maybe Im bending the thread here, but I was just looking at some pitching technique on you tube last night, and I came across some Mens fastpitch games. I was watching the ISF World Championship between Canada and New Zealand. Every pitcher was leaping. They had about 5 pitchers in the game and the pivot foot was way off the ground. One pitcher landed about two feet to the left of the pitchers mound. It just looks different. Anyway, I never understood why they have to make pitching so restrictive and more difficult for the women.

One thing that I take away from it was the men had some really good drive and the drag of the pivot foot didn't slow them down. My DD pivot foot drags deep when she pitches. She puts a 2 inch deep groove in the dirt. I think Im going to try to get her to glide across the surface to get less drag. Also just wondering from an injury perspective. Is it good to have the women dragging their pivot feet? I know of one of DD friends had a stress fracture on her drag foot, well from dragging. Would it be healthier if we got rid of the drag rule? Im sure some purists are flipping out by just asking the question.

When you compare and contrast the proper drag mechanics in the womens game with the typical mechanics in the mens game, which would you expect to have the greatest injury potential for a 10-18 year old female?