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Pause after Separation
Had the plate for a HS Varsity game last night. One of the pitchers had a strange motion, and I'm not sure if it's legal. I haven't been able to check my rule book to verify.
She would start out with both feet on the plate and her hands separated. She would then bring her hands together waist-high and raise the front of her pivot foot so that only her heel was in contact. Then, she would remove the ball from her glove and put her hand on her hip, and stop. The stop was anywhere from one to two seconds, but clearly a complete stop. Then, she'd slowly start to lean forward, drop her pivot foot down, and step forward with her pitch.
I thought that once the hands came separated, that established her motion to pitch, and that the motion had to be continuous. Is that pause of hers illegal or not?
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