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What you described, I do not believe I would consider illegal.... but a bigger question:
Our top division of schools always have the umpires for the play-offs to come from different divisions than either of the teams, a.k.a no home town umpires. I had to call a game at one particular school where the pitcher pitches illegally.
Previously, I had only called once when she was playing and I ruled her first pitch illegal. The tournament UIC was the BU and, though I am not proud of it, I yielded to his recommendation of allowing her to continue this pitching mechanic because he felt she was gaining no real advantage. He suggested my angle at home was not good. He said she was only slightly crow hopping. I thought, and the drag marks proved, she was replanting about 10-12" in front of the pitching plate.
I'm sure she is always illegal, probably has been for several seasons. After I called her illegal and she tried to stop, she could not. I've had several other coaches tell me that she always pitches that way and no one ever calls it. I even had one coach that I did not know introduce herself to me, shake my hand and thank me because she had heard that I was the one umpire that finally called an illegal pitch on this girl. (The coaches I refer to are highly respected, very knowledgeable coaches.)
So now I get this girl in a playoff game. She is illegal warming up, she is illegal in all her pitches and she is the only real pitcher her team has. I am in a lose/lose situation.
If I do not call the pitches illegal, I am causing an injustice to the visiting team, because they are having to hit pitches that are being delivered from only 39 feet away.
If I do call the pitches illegal, I am causing an injustice to her team, because she is now not allowed to do something that umpires have allowed her to do all season.
My partner and I rode to this game together and had discussed the situation along the way. He said that he would not call it illegal unless the other team started to complain. (I'm not going to judge that attitude; I'm not sure mine was any better.) I decided the lesser of two evils was to allow her to do this since I had specific knowledge that she had indeed been allowed to do this by all the previous umpires calling her games.
I have no problems with my decision there. The problem I have is that I allowed it in the one game early in the season. That is when I should have called it.
I have no answers in this post. Only comments and perhaps a little confession.
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Dan
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