Quote:
Originally posted by bkbjones
Not trying to be argumentative or belittling, so please don't take it that way...
1. I love the fastpitch game.
2. IMHO, move the PP back to 43 for Gold, and change the college rule to the same as men's (keep your toe pointing somewhat down, and please have contact with the PP at some point between when the catcher throws you the ball and when you pitch it back toward said catcher).
3. I would almost rather work the bases than the plate (I said ALMOST) in a good FP game, because I know every call I make will be crucial, and I trust my judgement.
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In my opinion, moving the PP back for Gold alone would probably kill Gold in many parts of the country, and put a hurting on 18A. All tournaments would be required to have seperate brackets, and fields for Gold (you don't think they would let play on a field with a 40' plate in front of them, do you?); many "open" tournaments rely on mixing 18A and Gold to make good brackets, and the 18A teams want to play against Gold teams for the quality experience.
The pitchers would have concerns with changing distances on their breaking pitches, of course; many college pitchers who are age eligible to return are ineffective in 18A and Gold, since their pitches are hit before they break. It would also make a concern with high school competition, since the players would be mixed in their "familiar" distances.
It seems to me that any decision to move the PP, to be effective and consistent for the players, must be NCAA only; if youth ball needs to cahnge, all ages from at least 14U up should move and NFHS must be on board with the change, as well. Since ASA is the NGB for softball in the US, either change would also likely need to be coordinated with ISF, as well.
I do not personally subscribe to the "it isn't enforced, so take it out of the rules" argument. The rules are clear enough in my mind what constitutes an illegal leap, and what constitutes an illegal crow hop.
At every level of JO, NFHS, and NCAA, the obvious calls should be enforced. Coaches and pitchers need to be told as an absolute point of enphasis that these calls will be made, and that there is no conversation or discussion to be accepted on these calls. In the past year, the entire softball world learned how obstruction would be enforced; and it worked. By next year, it will be less discussed, and a matter of fact call; more importantly, there is less obstruction as a result of actual enforcement. Illegal pitching could be curtailed in the same way, if the powers that be really wanted it to happen.
Several years ago, ISF started enforcing a full 2 second touch and pause on pitchers. There was momentary complaint, then all the pitchers complied. No difference on leaping and crow hopping; if it was mandated to be enforced, and umpire evaluations were affected if you
didn't make the call (right now, umpires don't want to make the coaches unhappy to lose the assignments), it would change.
As a final opinion, I don't really believe these issues give the pitchers any great advantage; most coaches complain about the opposing pitchers to get in their head, or to force them to think about something else, not because a huge advantage is gained on a borderline condition. A full out leap or crow hop is called; it is the situations with "no advantage" that are mostly ignored.