Good to read first hand experience!
I’m far from an expert. Just relaying what I’ve found.
As far as the rules discussion is concerned....if thems the rules then thems the rules. Call it as an umpire and/or protest it as a coach. But how you address it at 8u vs HS or TB are two entirely different situations. If a girl is playing high school and still intentionally leaping/crow hopping then she deserves the IP call. She knows better. Or should know better. Again, dragging the foot is not that hard to remember or make happen. Doing it efficiently is what’s hard. Obviously there’s plenty of elite pitchers who are lights out and toe drag within the rules.
I’ve never umpired, but comparing enforcement of leaping/crow hopping to enforcing the strike zone isn’t the same to me. Enforcing the drag foot is so much easier to do. It’s easier to see and measure. Definitely more black and white. Crow hopping even more so.
We played a game against a pitcher who’s drive foot would actually come forward off the rubber right as she launched. More of a slip. I (as an AC) didn’t read it as intentional and advised the HC as such. He caught it before I did. Did give her an advantage? Maybe. I didn’t think so. We didn’t say anything. Would it have mentally messed her up had we made something out of it? Maybe. But it was 12u rec league and our girls were hitting her fine. Not the same as a leap or crow hop. But, more towards the situational part of the discussion.
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