Illegal pitch calling this year

[MTR]

[RANT]

Point - How can you have a "slight" replant? Either the pitcher's pivot foot left the PP and set in another position prior to the pitch or it didn't. It is illegal.
Point - There have been efforts to drop the awarded base at all levels and orgs and for some reason, none will accept it. I think the believe there needs to be such a deterent or it IPs and any more to correct the action is ignored. Unfortunately, as Comp noted, this is true.
Point - Quit crying and whining about the umpires making the call. They are not the ones committing a rules infraction. There are two teams on the field and both EXPECT the umpire to call the rules equally for both. Just because someone may think it is unfair to one, would not ignoring an infraction be unfair to the other?
Point - The coaches are well aware their pitcher is illegal and shame on them. The "do it until they call it" and "if you ain't cheating, you aint trying" mentality if that of a weak individual who needs to make an excuse for acknowledge misdeeds. If you noticed over the past couple of years, the coaches and Talking Heads never state or argue the call was wrong, but the fact that is was called. How weak is that? Would you accept such an angle if you caught your DD downing shots of tequila in her room?
Point - If you don't want illegal pitches called, stop pitching illegally.

I can guarantee, the umpire does NOT want to make that call, but it is their job to make that call. And for those teams and players that are touted as the "best", what does it say when they need to cheat to win? If you believe they don't, why are you complaining about illegal pitches being called. Cannot have it both ways, either the team is in violation or they are not. When it comes to this call, the umpires are not making it up, it is happening, no matter how "slight" you may think it is.

Whether you like it or not, understand it or not, the umpires are paid to officiate the game by the rules set forth by the NCAA/NFHS. Unlike what the Talking Heads think, it is not the umpires' responsibility to make watching the game enjoyable. That is the responsibility of the teams and coaches.

[/RANT]

 

[Coach JV]

My dd is very cautious when throwing a curve ball.
Her body torque at release puts her very close to stepping outside the
24" lane. We are working very hard to correct it as the curve is now her
'go to' pitch.

She received warning Wednesday from the only decent umpire crew we have seen in HS
this year. I know this subject would require another thread, but the 4:00 p.m.
weekday umpiring is by far the worst I have ever seen

 

[PEPPERS]

I saw the game myself and I was surprised by it being called, I was wondering if a bug was put in the umps ear about her being outside the pitching rubber before the game.

What exactly does the rule say? Do you need to stay in the box only for the initial step or does it include the follow through also? The screw ball my daughter stays in the box in her initial step, but the follow through takes her out of the box at times.

So far she has not been called, but I was wondering.

 

[Comp]

Pitcher must start with both feet within, or partially within the 24" width of the pitching plate, and the plant foot must land within, or partially within the 24" width. Stepping outside the 24" width after the ball is released is nothing.

 

[00fpdaddy]

We try to teach, send our dd's for pitching instruction, it takes patience a whole lot of it dealing with mechanics. Nothing gets the coaches/parents more angry than the umpires not calling illegal pitches. 10u, 12u some umps will give a warning after prodding from the coaches but never call it. Crow hopping and leaping so blatant, yet no violation. I can understand rec ball where the girls are learning to pitch, but travel ball, cmon now. In the long run it hurts the pitcher when they get older.

Heres another one, Asa two feet on the pitchers plate, pony it's not required. Asa tournament, umps said it was no big deal, opposing teams pitcher can pitch that way, this after coaches showing the rule book. Call it right.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Point - How can you have a "slight" replant? Either the pitcher's pivot foot left the PP and set in another position prior to the pitch or it didn't. It is illegal.

Have to agree with you on this one 100%. It's like being a little pregnant.

 

[stv]

Point - How can you have a "slight" replant? Either the pitcher's pivot foot left the PP and set in another position prior to the pitch or it didn't. It is illegal.
What about maybe her toe drag and leg are not working smoothly? toe drag hesitate then leg drive.

I am specifically speaking about the Forham vs. Longwood game below. Watch 1st inning and then the other pitcher for the same team get called for it @ 1:50:00


Watch Live Softball Online and on Mobile Applications - WatchESPN
Forham vs. Longwood

It looks like she might do a slight replant. Very marginal call??
They show a slow motion @ 13:46
Different pitcher replay same team @ 1:50:00

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Thanks for this link. I haven't been able to get it on the iPhone. But, it is great on the computer.

 

[rowdy]

The reality is the focus at the college level on illegal pitches has created the need for the training at younger ages to be more specific. If the pitcher waits until college to learn to throw a legel pitch then it will be too late.

If you have the rule you must enforce it. If you don't like the rules then lobby to get them changed.

 

[MTR]

It looks like she might do a slight replant. Very marginal call??
They show a slow motion @ 13:46
Different pitcher replay same team @ 1:50:00

Standard level of ignorance demonstrated by the THs working the game. I don't know why the NCAA allows the assignment of game and rules-ignorant folks announce their games. Then again, I'm sort of curious when the NCAA is going to get their own software and move away from the term "balk" in their statistics.

It seems there is an assumption that the call is a crow hop, when it could be a leap which isn't that hard to see when the pitcher's pivot foot comes off without the toe out or up instead of down.

One thing I did notice during her warm-ups when she wasn't walking through, she would start the pitch with her non-pivot foot off the back of and not in contract with the PP. So that may have also been an issue.

It isn't like the umpire just called it and walked away. The umpire came in and told the coach what and why it was called. That should have allowed the pitcher the opportunity to adjust. Apparently, she didn't.