Tennessee coaches unhappy with California pitcher's shoe flap

[riseball]

In order to crow hop, a pitcher has to leap first. Explaining the leaping rule was not necessarily incorrect. Fix the leap and there is no crow hop.

Not true, but granted it would be very unusual.

ASA - "A crow hop is defined as the act of a pitcher who steps, hops, or drags off the
Front of the pitcher's plate, replants the pivot foot, establishing a second impetus
(or starting point), pushes off from the newly-established starting point and
and completes the delivery."

 

[ddtimes4]

Exactly riseball..i was waiting on him to connect the two....he called it crow hopping but it actually should have been leaping...lol.

 

[riseball]

Exactly riseball..i was waiting on him to connect the two....he called it crow hopping but it actually should have been leaping...lol.

I have seen plenty of crow hops but to Comps point they were guilty of leaping before they crow hopped. I am thinking that maybe at the lower 8U-10U level you may see it without a leap in new pitchers whose mechanics are best described as confused.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Be honest GD, how many times have you been tossed for addressing the plate umpire as Mr. Magoo?

Never called anyone Mr Magoo. Did have this one large manly female ump who worked games around here, I always addressed her........."excuse me sir". She didn't think it nearly as funny as I did. I miss the little things not being active in the game anymore. lol

 

[Comp]

Not true, but granted it would be very unusual.

ASA - "A crow hop is defined as the act of a pitcher who steps, hops, or drags off the
Front of the pitcher's plate, replants the pivot foot, establishing a second impetus
(or starting point), pushes off from the newly-established starting point and
and completes the delivery."

Except the pitching clarification they came out with a few years ago about the push/drag/push or crow/drag makes that statement incorrect. As you may recall, the clarification stated if the foot drags away there is nothing in the rules which states it may not bear weight again.

I didn't write the clarification, and I still dont agree with it, but that is what was written by the powers that be at ASA and it conflicts with their definition of draging and replanting as being a crow hop.

 

[riseball]

We often connect womens pitching and mens pitching when discussing leaping. As pervasive as the leap of Waldrop is it pales in comparison to what you see in the mens game. In womens the leap is a consequence of the mechanics. In mens it is part of the mechanics and much more aggressive. That said, once this rule does finally get removed it will IMO significantly change the game. It will cause many, myself included to rethink everything with regard to pitching. It could get very interesting.

 

[JJsqueeze]

You don't tug on supermans cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't argue rules with Comp

 

[sballstat]

Not true, but granted it would be very unusual.

ASA - "A crow hop is defined as the act of a pitcher who steps, hops, or drags off the
Front of the pitcher's plate, replants the pivot foot, establishing a second impetus
(or starting point), pushes off from the newly-established starting point and
and completes the delivery."

I agree with Riseball….”as being very unusual” when I was much younger, I would fool around with various striding techniques. I taught myself to stride and drag/replanting and landing 18” outside the 8’ circle.

My pivot foot would never lose contact with the ground. Realizing that the act of replanting was illegal, only the most trained eyes were able to recognize an illegal pitch being thrown.

You can see the replant occur when a r/handed pitcher during their delivery would stiffen the right pivot leg. Throwing pitches that had a dropping action were enhanced, while riseballs were less effective. Obviously, perceived pitching speed was dramatically increased.

 

[Jojo]

I am sure this young lady has tried to fix her leap.

And every time she didn't leap she lost a little speed, so she went back to leaping. For her and her coaches it wasn't about being legal it was about her getting that extra zip that helped pull her over the top.

I'm sure they figured, let her do what she has to do to get where she can get and then deal with the consequences as they happen.

My DD had the ability to leap at will and stop if she had to. She would pitch legally until the opposing team used a leaper. Her coach would complain, the umpires would never do anything (college) and so then my DD would finish the game leaping.

She and her coach felt that if they were to allow the advantage to one pitcher then the advantage had to be given to both pitchers. If the opposing coach complained, no problem, he'd have to pull out his pitcher and my DD could just stop.

I agree, the foot on the ground needs to stop, were getting to a level in softball like in pro-sports where "cheating" is something you have to do to give yourself the advantage, if you don't get the advantage, whose going to notice you? There is a lot of money in softball. Not just the scholarship, there are players that get recognition and go on after college to make a lot of money off of their accomplishments in college.

 

[JJsqueeze]

THERE IS NO ADVANTAGE TO A LEAP!!!!

If there was then every international pitcher and NPF pitcher would leap.

I too have an intermittent leaper, at this point it does not happen in games but does happen in practice sometimes. There is ZERO difference in her speed between a leap pitch and a non leap pitch.