HS Balk on Pickoff Move

[MTDv2.0]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

It depends on what you mean by "the non-pivot foot is lifted" but if you mean to / toward the balance point fro a RH pitcher, then you are wrong. Once the foot is lifted to / toward the balance point, the pitcher cannot throw to the base "behind" him (1st for a RH pitcher); the pitcher must throw home, or move toward 3rd or 2nd.

Although the NFHS Rules Book, NFHS Case Book, and NCAA Rules Book do not contain the phrase "balance point, I believe you are referring to NCAA R9-3-c1:

"The pitcher, while touching the pitcher's rubber, must step toward the base, preceding or simultaneous with any move toward that base. The pitcher is committed, upon raising the lead leg, to throw to the base being faced, to second base or to the plate. When throwing or feinting a throw to a base not being faced, the pitcher must step immediately, directly and gain ground toward that base."

The NFHS Rules have no similar restrictions on a pitcher's movement toward a base that the pitcher is not facing.

The OP is a high school umpire describing a high school situation. The mere absence of a similar restriction in NFHS is not grounds for imposing the NCAA rule. Therefore, this rule does not apply to the situation and, by extension, I am not wrong.