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SactoBlue,
I do understand where you are coming from. I think one thing that it depends on the level of play as to how many IP's you call. If you are doing a small rec league where the pitchers are just starting and are struggling to find how to pitch I wouldn't call many Illegal Pitches, BUT I would most defiantly talk to the pitcher and her coach and point out every thing she is doing that is illegal. Normally I do this after the inning and to a point where they don't screw the poor girl up and get her in a mental state where she can't throw at all! (Girls and their emotions!!) But I make sure they know of their little mistakes so they can correct them. In the local league I do I start off with this approach and then start to enforce the IP's toward the end of the season so they have had time to get the basics and learn the right way to pitch! I know this is a little off topic so back to your exact question. I will give you my opinion and what I have learned from the clinics I have been too. 1 second is not long at all!! And since the hands can be moving when they are in contact it all depends on when you start and stop counting whether there has been one second. What I mean is picture a girl with ball on hip starting pitch by bringing ball to glove in a swinging motion up to her chest and back down, glove into leg, ball into windmill, now when do we start counting? When the ball is blocked from out view as PU (we almost have to as we can't actually see when it touches from our view, right? And neither can the batter, she knows the hands are (about) together and that the pitch is about to start and that is the intent of the rule as Mike has pointed out. So yes the book says no less than one second, but I wonder how many you will actually see that are truly less than one second.
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