Tennessee coaches unhappy with California pitcher's shoe flap

[knightsb]

 

[sballstat]

Would you expect the stresses involved with keeping the back foot down to be greater or less than those associated with landing after becoming airborne during the leap?

I guess that would be a good question for the experts...with that said, imo...any attempts to produce exaggerated leaps or hops would produce negative or have undesirable pitch results.

Other than curling, I can’t think of any sport where a required dragging of the foot would prove to be beneficial to the desired motion any athlete is trying to achieve.

 

[JAD]

Waldrop at only 5'-10" is getting all the way out to the front of the circle for a glide and stride close to 8'. I cannot imagine her doing this while throwing a legal pitch. She is also generating much more kinetic energy than she would had she not leaped. How is this not a competitive advantage?

Does Waldrop leap on every pitch she throws? Would love to see a side-by-side comparison of her pitching with and without the leap to try to determine the advantages gained. At least she is not replanting!

My DD is 5'10" and is legal to the best of my knowledge, and she comes close to 8' on her glide.

 

[knightsb]

Coach Karen Weekly expresses concerns over shoe-flap.

“Some kind of a flap, taped to the bottom of her shoe that stuck out three inches from the end of her toe. I told the UIC if this was going to be legal, maybe I should quit my job and open a company manufacturing pitcher toe flaps, because I guess in the future somebody is going to make a lot of money if we’re going to make a mockery of the game like that”.

Weekly says she has followed through with the Softball National Rules Coordinator.

 

[sballstat]

While everyone is paying attention to the "toe flap" she is delivering the pitch outside of the stride lanes, however...she is still well within the 8' circle.

 

[29dad]

The Ringor/UA/Nike flapper coming soon to a store near you. $39.99. The perfect pitching accessory for your airborne angel.

 

[riseball]

While everyone is paying attention to the "toe flap" she is delivering the pitch outside of the stride lanes, however...she is still well within the 8' circle.

How many 5'-4"(?) legal pitchers have you seen get that far out in the circle?

 

[sluggers]

The "no leap" rule comes from a misguided attempt to increase scoring. It didn't help. What did increase scoring was moving the rubber back 3 feet and high-tech bats. But, the ASA and NCAA never got around to removing this ridiculous rule. Why they keep it around when they don't enforce it is beyond me.

Watch some men's fastpitch. The leap isn't illegal in Men's fastpitch. There is a slight leap, but nothing crazy. Pitching is about transferring energy, and I suspect that a big leap throws off the timing between the legs, torso and arm.

(Crow hopping is a different story, and should remain illegal.)

Tennessee is doing everyone a great service by calling out the ridiculous inconsistent enforcement of the rules.

OILF:

Waldrop is illegal. She is just very good at hiding it. I do not believe it gives her any advantage, but it is a habit she picked up and can't change. Either the NCAA should uniformly enforce the rule, or they should drop it.

IMHO, if umps started calling everyone for IPs during the season, the NCAA would change the rule in a heartbeat. The way it is, some people get away with it and some don't.

Waldrop is good at cheating, I agree. This is a video from FSU...note how in the segment where they focused on her feet, she is perfect. As soon as she starts pitching...whoopsies!

[video=youtube_share;8bWrfwjeJ1I]http://youtu.be/8bWrfwjeJ1I?list=UUwjN-6bLcfliTWcJdkaYEbg[/video]

My complaint is simply the lack of enforcement. If umpires are going to allow "the flap" and fail to enforce the rule anyway, isn't it time to simply drop the rule?

 

[riseball]

...it is a habit she picked up and can't change...

Waldrop is an elite, arguably world class athlete and she can't change her mechanics to pitch legally? I find that hard to believe. I think you recently posted video showing that she is quite capable.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

While everyone is paying attention to the "toe flap" she is delivering the pitch outside of the stride lanes, however...she is still well within the 8' circle.

She's within the pitching lane - there are still remnants of the line behind her. Also, the 8' circle has nothing to do with pitching rules - just the look back rule.