LL pitching rules?

[Amy in AZ.]

Can the pitcher step back, prior to delivery?

How many innings in a row? And how much rest? Are they counting pitches in softball like in baseball?

Thanks. I have searched and searched on the Internet.

 

[Coach JV]

LL rules (pitching included) vary by age group, with still different rules for all-star tournament.
Our rec league was LL until 2 years ago. LL limits the girls to a certain
##of innings/week also they cannot pitch on consecutive days if they throw
more than one inning in a game. (One pitch constitutes an inning) 2-3 days rest
depending on #of innings pitched. Sunday begins a new week, you can throw all day
Saturday and again on Monday but then you cannot throw again 'til Thursday.
IT'S A MESS

LL rules are much different than the other sanctioning bodies, the best move
our directors did was move to USSSA. Our program is small, the nearest LL
cities were no in our district and we were traveling up to 80 miles each way
to play rec ball. Personally, I found LL to be driven toward the boys, with the girls
program viewed as the ugly stepsister. They do have a great tournament at the end
of summer though! Once ball is presented, they could not step back. (12U)

In short, they count innings pitched, do not count pitches.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Oh, it is minors. They are 10 YOs.

I was watching one of my students pitch last night and the opposing coach insisted that she had to be pulled after 2 innings. He was getting beat and had pulled his #1, for some unknown reason. Her coach refused and he started calling people to check the rule and held up the game for 5 minutes.

So, there is no limit per innings per game, even if it goes extra innings?

By the way, my student won and pitched a 1 hitter.

 

[Madsdad]

Amy, Here in Wisconsin the girls are limited to six inings a week. We would tipically have 2 games a week. I have never heard them mention a pitch count for the girls and I have seen some pretty long games. I will do some checking on the step back. I never let my dd do it because I was told at the HS level the first step had to be forward. I watched one coach last year have a girl a girl throw in excess of 120 pitches in a practic( I make sure I count) and then had her pitch in a game the next day even after she said her arm was sore. I presonlly stop my dd. At 10 there is a limit to what I'll let her do for the sake of winning.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Thanks. I had the pitch count and my student was at 75 pitches at the end of the game.

My problem was, the other coach was trying to bully the mom that has volunteered to coach into removing the pitcher, because of some rule he told her that "Congress had just approved."

 

[Madsdad]

Amy I'm going to speak with our softball coordinator and see if I can't get a bit more info. I have a strong feeling that I might run into a problem this year with my dd pitching. The girls are viewed much differently then the boys. We too have to do an inter league with other surrounding cities because the numbers are low. Parents don't take kindly to a dominating pitcher at this level. They fail to look at the work that has been put into the craft and just want little Sally to be able to hit the ball. I have done what I can to protect against any IP calls but I'm sure someone will find something else to complain about.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Madsdad, You have it right. I have 2 10 YO students that dominate the league. They did not lose a league game at 8 and 9 YOs. The league attempted to split them up, this year. They are best friends and attend church together. The families are friends. So, M's mom stepped forward to coach the team. She made it clear that she doesn't know much about coaching.

The draft was a blind draw. She drew first pick and she picked the friend, J.

So, now the team has 2 dominate pitchers. The league attempts to penalize them, because they are good pitchers. But, their families have paid for 55 lessons from me over the last 2 years.

It is not the girls' fault that the league has not developed other pitchers.

 

[Coach JV]

The draft was a blind draw. She drew first pick and she picked the friend, J.

So, now the team has 2 dominate pitchers. The league attempts to penalize them, because they are good pitchers. But, their families have paid for 55 lessons from me over the last 2 years.

It is not the girls' fault that the league has not developed other pitchers.

Most rec leagues have a separate draft for pitchers so the teams are all competitive.
It is not beneficial to any of these teams to be unbalanced like this. The team w/pitching
has fielders standing around bored out of their minds. The others get tired of going out
and being mowed down when facing the pitchers. Hopefully the league learns from its
'blind draft'

 

[shockcoach]

As was mentioned, minors cannot pitch more than 6 innings per game and 6 innings per week. Majors is 9 innings per game and 18 per week. They need on calendar days rest between games. So if you pitch Tuesday you have to wait till Thursday for your next game. If you play a double-dip, the nine inning rule applies for the day. They are eligible to pitch both games as long as they don't go over 9 innings.

Also, the pitcher can take a step back off the rubber, just like NFHS. Majors has re-instituted the DTK rule and they can now leave on the pitch for leading off, rather then wait until the ball crosses the plate.

 

[Ken B]

Semi-related: I've been suggesting to my LL pitchers that they follow the ASA rule on maintaining contact with the rubber until the forward step. My #1 just made her HS JV team as a freshman and her HS PC had just realized she'd been stepping back prior to her first start. Now she has to unlearn that back step. Same suggestion for kids who hope to make an ASA team. I hope LL changes that rule soon...