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I've enforced the "one minute" plenty of times by reducing the number of throws the pitcher gets if the battery doesn't get out there and get to it.
I've stepped in to brush the plate as soon as the last warm-up is thrown. But I usually wait until the pitcher has the ball and I can get her attention and make eye contact, then I'll hold up a hand and say, "Hold onto it, Pitcher". I wouldn't put it beyond an oblivious pitcher to fire one off while I'm bent over!
I've stepped between the battery as they take their places and loudly announced, "Pitcher, you get five warm-up pitches", while holding up five fingers, then turned to the catcher and repeated, "She gets five", only to have the catcher call, "Balls in!", AFTER the final throw, expecting to get one more for her throw down.
Usually, the teams will finally get the message. But, generally, they act like I'm "making up rules" or being some kind of a hardass by enforcing this. So many teams treat the between-inning break like the seventh-inning stretch that I really have to wonder if other officials in my area are bothering to enforce this at all.
Back a few years ago in one local league, this one with a TWO HOUR time limit on their games, one of the league officials asked me how it was that most all of my games went the full seven innings, while many of the others were only going five or six. The simple answer: I enforce the time and warm-up pitch rules. If both teams spend a couple of extra minutes each time they change sides, you're looking at about 30 minutes of players standing around doing nothing instead of playing the game. In a timed game, that 30 minutes can often be the difference between playing a full seven and getting cut short by the time limit.
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