- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,188
- 48
I'm not following your point here? The Kelly Barnhills and Cat Ostermans of the world have been pitching "illegally" since they were teenagers in PGF, ASA, and high school and it didn't hurt their careers. For example, at my DD's high school they never have more than one umpire during the regular season and it's very difficult to police the pitcher's mechanics, check on the batter in the batter's box, look at the base runners for leaving early and calling ball and strikes. There is just too many things going on during play for one umpire to police IPs effectively. Combine that with the fact that most tournament directors want to keep the pace of play moving in timed PGF, ASA, USSSA games, they don't want the game to slow down to a crawl by calling every little leap or replant, and this is assuming that the typical umpire understands the rules (e.g. is there a hole in front of the pitching plate and therefore leaping is ok?) In my experience coaching and attending 100's of youth softball games, very few IPs are ever called and when they are called, they are enforced very inconsistently. Some pitchers could be called for an IP every pitch and yet I have NEVER been to a game where an IP is called 5, 6, 20 times in a row, even though technically you could make the argument.
As I mentioned before, not many (other than the DFP fanatics) really pay much attention to correct pitching mechanics. If the powers that be really wanted to get rid of illegal mechanics they would have a "pitching umpire" whose only responsibility would be to look for illegal mechanics. But the cost of such person would make the games too cost prohibitive for many teams. At the end of the day, things would be much better and simpler to allow the women to pitch under the men's rules. 90% of all fastpitch is NOT played at the collegiate level, I say let the kids pitch in a manner that is more natural and consistent with international rules of softball. It will get there some day, hopefully sooner than later.
Lastly, if you watched the FSU/WA championship game, Meghan King did not even have her back foot on the pitching plate during every pitch. This should be very easy for the base umpire to see and call but it never, ever get called. Do you think the pitcher knows if her back foot is on rubber or not? Of course she does but no one ever calls it as an IP, same with striding outside the 24 inch lane. Everyone cried foul about a little leap but are silent when it comes to these other infractions.
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