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Illegal Pitch
I have been learning from this web site for about a year and have been umpiring for 2 years. So, I am fairly new at this and eager to learn.
When describing a legal pitch, ASA 6.1.E states "The Pitcher shall bring the hands together for not less than 1 second and not more than 10 seconds before releasing it".
I have seen several 10U and 12U pitchers who step on the runner with their hands seperated and the ball in the throwing hand (this is legal so far), then after taking the sign they move both hands forward and bring them together out in front of their body and touch them together and in 1 continual motion (no pause) they seperate the hands and bring the ball hand back behind their body, then they go into the wind mill like normal.
This seems to be a blatent illegal pitch since they did not bring their hands together for a minimum of 1 second, all they did was touch and then seperate. However, I have asked 3 ASA umpires (including 1 at the Indiana State Games in Bloomington) and all 3 say this is legal as long as they touch their hands together. They say they do not have to pause for 1 second.
I would love to hear if I am crazy or should this be indeed an illegal pitch?
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