crowhopping?

[dbias]

At a local tournament an umpire was watching DD warmup before a game and came over to me and a group of about five other coaches from other teams and asked whose pitcher that was warming up. I said that is my DD why and then he asked us all to tell him what she was doing wrong. We all watched about a half dozen pitches and none of us could tell that anything was being done wrong. To cut to the chase he said she was crowhopping. Keep in mind now that her right foot at no time ever left the ground even thought the warmup pit was pretty torn up and had a good rut worn into it. He claimed that because her heel came back into contact with the ground as she pulled her leg in behind her plant leg it was a crowhop. Ever heard of this?

 

[quincy]

At least they did not say it to the Player.

She needs to release the ball before she replants her pivot foot I all I can think of.

 

[chinamigarden]

Does she replant her foot before she delivers the pitch? If so thats a crow hop. Leaping, or becoming airborne is not necessary for a crow hop. If she replants which then allows her to push with the back foot, she is crow hopping.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

He was full of crap.

 

[dbias]

I cant see that it is a replant as her drag foot never leaves the ground and as the heel retouches the ground it is pulling foward and fills the back of her plant foot shoe full of sand. Anyway "his" umps never called it in a game and i never told her to change anything. Just wondered if a rule or definition had changed and I hadnt heard.

 

[tojo]

He was full of crap.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Unprofessional for the umpire to speak out loud about the "issue" in front of all the other coaches. Secondly, he was flat out wrong in his analysis (your DD's pivot foot maintained contact with the ground the whole time prior to release of the pitch and was legally pitching).

The inconsistency and ignorance in IP calls is frustrating. We just wrapped up the all-star season (5 tournaments) and my DD was called twice for crowhopping in the same game. She pitched in 20 games and threw over 1500 legal pitches and yet this one rogue ump sees fit to call an IP on her, two times. She had the same mechanics in every game. What did he see that the umpires in the other 19 games did not?

 

[NVfishing]

At a tourney this weekend the pitcher was crow hoping and was called on her first pitch but every pitch after that was delivered exactly the same with no calls.

 

[shockcoach]

One of the best clues to a crow hop is if the rear knee is bent and then straightens back out as the pitch is released. As chinamigarden said, you don't have to leap to crow hop. Most crow hop pitchers I see do not leap.

 

[dbias]

At a tourney this weekend the pitcher was crow hoping and was called on her first pitch but every pitch after that was delivered exactly the same with no calls.

If they are not going to call it every time why call it at all. At least calling it on first pitch is better than in a tie situation with someone on third. Sometimes i think they like to listen to themselves talk.