The Magical Umpire

[bucket pinata]

Hope you all had a great weekend. Just looking for some clarification on a few things that I know you'll be able to answer for me. The back story During the semi final game for the asa 12u A state championship the umpire decided he was going to be the illegal pitch Nazi and thrust his influence into the game. top of the first after allowing a strikeout on our lead batter he gathers up the pitcher, catcher and coaches and has a conversation/warning on her pitching. not to sure what the issue was but after that he allowed the inning to continue. the bottom of the first my DD on the mound who has never been called for an IP throws her first pitch. Right away the arm sticks out and he call an IP and awards a ball on strike three with no reason given. The next pitch same result. The reason was he thought that she was stepping out of the pitching lane. The problem I have is there was no lane drawn in. The rubber was below the level of the dirt so the edges were not visible he had no idea where her feet were in relation to the edge. Then he gathers my DDs coaches at the mound and draws with his finger lines from the mound edges forward and says she needs to be within those lines. which is ridiculous cause the white lines are 1.5 inches wide not finger width. No umpire in two years of A level travel ball in 5 states has ever thought she was out side those lines but this super vision blue new exactly where her foot was in relation to imaginary lines from a rubber he could not see. after frustrating our team for an inning and spotting the other team 2 runs once he drew in his finger lines my DD did not change a thing and he did not call it the next 6 innings. Proud of the way my DD responded to this PU garbage. we did lose the game by one but I'm not blaming the PU We had 6 innings to get that run back and did not lost by one 3-4.So I have some questions .First is it normal for umpires to call fouls on lines that don't exist. and second am I right in understanding that if any part of the foot is on the white line in the alley it is a legal pitch.
Also the base umpire who actually had the view never said a word and was never consulted.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ken B]

THe PU has the best view. It's a judgement call. There is no 1.5 inches--chalk or no chalk. Chalk is only seen in college ball and above as far as I know. The only thing that matter is if the blue believes the plant foot landed outside the line, which is defined by the outside edge of the 24 inch plate. Both feet must also start within the 24 inches. Without seeing it, it would be hard to say the PU was out of line based on the info provided. I believe the whole foot must be completely outside the edge of the plate to be an infraction.

 

[halskinner]

Bucket, I and others have said this many times.

The rulebook is only a guideline for league and tournament play. Any league or turney director or UIC can add, delet or amend any rule/s they wish.

However, when it comes to national competition or qualifying tournaments, the pitching regs are set in stone.

NCAA seems to be the only association that chalks the pitching lanes. because the violators are so many. It isd a judgement call in ASA and cannot be challenged.

 

[Ajaywill]

Hope you all had a great weekend. Just looking for some clarification on a few things that I know you'll be able to answer for me. The back story During the semi final game for the asa 12u A state championship the umpire decided he was going to be the illegal pitch Nazi and thrust his influence into the game. top of the first after allowing a strikeout on our lead batter he gathers up the pitcher, catcher and coaches and has a conversation/warning on her pitching. not to sure what the issue was but after that he allowed the inning to continue. the bottom of the first my DD on the mound who has never been called for an IP throws her first pitch. Right away the arm sticks out and he call an IP and awards a ball on strike three with no reason given. The next pitch same result. The reason was he thought that she was stepping out of the pitching lane. The problem I have is there was no lane drawn in. The rubber was below the level of the dirt so the edges were not visible he had no idea where her feet were in relation to the edge. Then he gathers my DDs coaches at the mound and draws with his finger lines from the mound edges forward and says she needs to be within those lines. which is ridiculous cause the white lines are 1.5 inches wide not finger width. No umpire in two years of A level travel ball in 5 states has ever thought she was out side those lines but this super vision blue new exactly where her foot was in relation to imaginary lines from a rubber he could not see. after frustrating our team for an inning and spotting the other team 2 runs once he drew in his finger lines my DD did not change a thing and he did not call it the next 6 innings. Proud of the way my DD responded to this PU garbage. we did lose the game by one but I'm not blaming the PU We had 6 innings to get that run back and did not lost by one 3-4.So I have some questions .First is it normal for umpires to call fouls on lines that don't exist. and second am I right in understanding that if any part of the foot is on the white line in the alley it is a legal pitch.
Also the base umpire who actually had the view never said a word and was never consulted.

Thanks in advance

The call for stepping outside the width of the pitching plate belongs to the PU. The BU should NEVER be consulted on this call because the BU should not have any position on the field where there is a good angle to make this call from.

NCAA is the only ruleset that requires the lines from the pitcher's plate to be drawn on the field. This is a direct result of coaches in NCAA wanting this. In reality, the lines are pretty much gone after an inning or so and are of little help in making this call.

The rule at all levels that I am aware of calls for a violation only if the entire foot is outside of the width of the Pitcher's Plate. If any part of the foot is on or within the width, it is not a violation. The PU knows where the PP is and is usually able to judge accordingly.
The only fault I can find with the PU in your scenario is that he went out and drew a line with his finger. This is not something that umpires should be doing.