[For the kids]

Thanks Tom--Being new to the page I missed it. And thanks for the welcome TexBlue. Thanks for all your input on this. Our league has an infamous saying, "We've always done it that way" and I guess in their mind that makes it right. I love the game-playing,umpiring and now coaching. But this coaching thing is the most frustrating thing ever. So many coaches/parents are in it for themselves and will do anything for the all mighty win,which I am sure you all are quite aware of. Another team in our league has a "crow hopper" who is in 7th grade and wild as hell. She has literally knocked girls off their feet when she hits them (from the 36 feet or so where she is releasing the ball). Their reply to this was "You know after all she in 7th grade" for whatever that means. All I know is the little girl laying beside home plate is only 10 and scared to death to bat off her again. There are even replant marks in the dirt to show where she is landing and then releasing after her jump. I was told because she wasn't doing it everytime that she was dragging some of the time it was okay (and the 7th grade part). It was funny because there were 2 holes where her feet were landing but nothing between the pitching plate and the first hole where she was suppossedly dragging to. I didn't need the marks in the ground to tell me that her feet were in the air before releasing. Her release point was after she landed which was approx. 3-4 feet in front of the pitching plate. Does this sound like a legal release in any female league that anyone knows? Any suggestions if it is illegal--do you protest the game from the time she starts pitching or is it a judgement call that you can't protest? We have had girls called for this but it was in the league above us--8th-12th Grade. Maybe 7th graders are exempt.