Illegal..........I give up

[GOINGDEEP]

I was just talking to a forum administrator yesterday at 4pm about "illegal pitches gone wild", at 7pm I'm watching a friends 12u game and the opposing pitcher is as illegal as a 4 dollar bill. This is not some rec league game where things "might" be more liberal, this is an A/B mix travel ball weekend tournament.

This girl was leaping AT LEAST 3" above the pitchers plate. I'm sitting in the bleachers behind the backstop a good 40 feet behind the ump and I can see it and he can't!!?? Really?

Between the 2 inning my friend ( the coach ) asked the blue if he sees her illegal and if he's going to issue a warning. "Nope". They talk for a few minutes and by my friend's body language, I can tell he is getting nowhere. The girl continues to leap like a frog for 75 mins.

After the game I asked how the conversation went. The ump admitted she was leaping but he was not going to call it. Went on to say this is not a state championship, world series, national tournament and he's not going to scrutinize a 12u pitchers mechanics on a normal weekend tournament. To top it off he said "she's only 12 and learning to pitch".

What the fudge is going on? "Learning to pitch", so let's allow her to pitch illegally without trying to fix or correct her at 12 instead of 18? These girls wouldn't last one game pitching illegal in baseball.

Every other dimensional rule in this game is enforced. Batter's box, foul line, base path, etc.

Either modify the pitching rules that are on the books or start calling the present rule violations. How freaking hard is that? All you're doing is creating choas at these tournaments when you allow illegal pitchers to get away with it.

I know there are others like me who either spent years teaching their kids to pitch by the rules, or taking them to a instructor to teaches legal pitching.................then we see these illegal pitchers getting a pass?? That pisses me off!!





Rant over.

 

[Eric F]

One of the pitchers on my DD's 8U rec league All-Star team got called for IP multiple times in 1 game of our District Championship tournament....yes, I said 8U. Thankfully, she was able to get it corrected overnight. Also thankfully, we never had that ump again. The rest of the umps gave warnings, but never made the call.

 

[halskinner]

GD, I dont like it either but the rulebook says it is only guidelines for competition and any tournament director or tournament UIC has the authority to delete, add or amend any rule the see fit.

However, the rules are set in stone when it comes to any national championship or qualifying tournament.

Young pitchers are taught badly, they pitch all year thinking they are right. They get to one of the big tourneys or a qualifier and get IP called every other pitch. You need to speak to the UIC or tourney director. The blue behind the plate is enforcing the rules he is told to enforce and NOT enforcing the ones he is told not to enforce.

 

[coach james]

Pathetic.... teach them the rules and be consistent! She's learning how to get exceptions made for her and not her fundamentals enforced. That's not how life works!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

GD, I dont like it either but the rulebook says it is only guidelines for competition and any tournament director or tournament UIC has the authority to delete, add or amend any rule the see fit.

However, the rules are set in stone when it comes to any national championship or qualifying tournament.

Young pitchers are taught badly, they pitch all year thinking they are right. They get to one of the big tourneys or a qualifier and get IP called every other pitch. You need to speak to the UIC or tourney director. The blue behind the plate is enforcing the rules he is told to enforce and NOT enforcing the ones he is told not to enforce.

Hal, I have never in my little 10 years of entering TB tournaments seen in writing or been told at registration that pitching rules would be modified to allow leaping or crowing. NEVER!! If they did then I wouldn't argue one bit..........I would know going into it or choose another tournament to play.

I recently asked my best friend, who has been umpiring baseball for 15+ years, if a TD had ever implied that they not call IP/balks in baseball. He said "no". I like to think I'm someone of average intelligence, but for some reason I can't grasp why girls softball is so wishy washy on pitching rules. Why are we/orgs not doing what is right and enforce the rules every game?

 

[Comp]

1 umpire game or 2 umpire you are referencing? Plate ump is not responsible for the feet except as they apply to being in our out of the lane. Base umpire is responsible for calling the leap.

It doesnt make it right, but alot of umpires dont want to bother with the trouble of calling the IP because as soon as they do the coach will be out screaming how the pitcher has never been called illegal before. You are probably wasting your time talking to an individual umpire, you need to go to the tournamet directors and the umpire assignors and file your complaints. No it is not fair to the girls who work on pitching legally to have to compete against girls that are doing anything they want and getting away with it.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Comp it was a 2 man crew, around here we always run a 2 man crew with a 3 man for the champ game.


We need more like this guy to clean up this mess.......



CALLING THE ILLEGAL PITCH
Submitted by: Mike Hopkins East Zone UIC
Some rules are easier to enforce than others. Umpires enforce many of these rules without even thinking about them. For instance, calling the batter-runner out at 1st base because the first baseperson is in possession of the ball and standing on the base prior to the batter-runner’s arrival is simply applying Rule 9-7-e. However, umpires are often hesitant, if not outright unwilling to enforce pitching certain pitching rules. Clearly, if the pitcher threw overhand, the umpires would not hesitate to enforce Rule 7-3 and call the illegal pitch. Yet when the pitcher leaps six inches off of the ground or steps six inches in front of the pitcher’s plate, umpires are reluctant to stick out their left arm and declare “illegal pitch.”
There are those pitchers who purposely pitch illegally. These pitchers are easy to located because once the umpire calls one illegal pitch, the pitcher immediately corrects the flaw without ever being told what she did illegally. And then there are those pitchers, particularly at the lower level, who may not be as familiar with the pitching rules and may not know that they are actually pitching illegally.
All rules exist for a reason. Most rules are designed either to ensure the safety of the participants or to ensure overall fairness of play. As umpires it is our responsibility to make sure that we uphold all rules.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Heck, I call them. My student leaps during my practice, I yell "Illegal Pitch!"

 

[Comp]

Its amazing the excuses you get. Cant tell you how many times I have pointed out to my partner that the pitcher was doing something illegal and I get the response of "Im not calling that".

Couple of years back my daughter was helping coach a 16 travel team and it was right after school ball ended. She was coaching 1st base and the opposing pitcher was stepping back off the pitching plate with her stride foot. She asked the umpire nicely if he saw she was stepping back, he said he did, she pointed out it was illegal and he responded that he did not feel she was gaining an advantage and wasnt going to call it. Not only that, but then he proceeded to call her pitcher for an illegal pitch the next inning. When she related the story to me after she got home, I knew who the UIC was at that tournament and told her she should have immediatly called time and protested. I told her the umpire just admitted he saw what the pitcher was doing and nowhere in the rules does it say anyting aobut gaining an advantage. If she had gotten the UIC involved I know he would have instructed the umpire to call the rules per the book.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Its amazing the excuses you get. Cant tell you how many times I have pointed out to my partner that the pitcher was doing something illegal and I get the response of "Im not calling that".

Couple of years back my daughter was helping coach a 16 travel team and it was right after school ball ended. She was coaching 1st base and the opposing pitcher was stepping back off the pitching plate with her stride foot. She asked the umpire nicely if he saw she was stepping back, he said he did, she pointed out it was illegal and he responded that he did not feel she was gaining an advantage and wasnt going to call it. Not only that, but then he proceeded to call her pitcher for an illegal pitch the next inning. When she related the story to me after she got home, I knew who the UIC was at that tournament and told her she should have immediatly called time and protested. I told her the umpire just admitted he saw what the pitcher was doing and nowhere in the rules does it say anyting aobut gaining an advantage. If she had gotten the UIC involved I know he would have instructed the umpire to call the rules per the book.

I know I may get stoned to death on a FP forum, but in my many years of pitching BB and my watching my D1 and D2 nephews over the years have never seen the need to go to a UIC because umps are not calling IP's. Why is softball so different?