NCAA Pitching Rules.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

The police interview 3 witnesses to a hit and run accident. All three describe the vehicle as a different color and one says it was a pickup truck and the other 2 say it was a car.

Perhaps your TV needs the white balance adjusted.

My TV is not as ostentatious as yours. I saw it as just below her fingernail and covering the first knuckle from the end of her finger. I.E. regular Band-Aid size.

I think your outrage that this was permitted to happen has resulted in some embellishment on your part.

What we didn't see (and I was channel flipping) was if there was some discussion with the umpire(s) prior to the game. And I didn't see (again flipping) any complaints by the opposing coach.

The young lady pitched an excellent game, particularly since she's only a freshman and went the distance.

BTW, that pitcher did not have overpowering speed, she relies a lot on spinning the ball and changing speeds. The index finger is the most important digit for pitchers (other than opposable thumbs ) in commanding a pitch. Trying to throw a pitch with a Band-Aid or tape to the end of the index finger is actually counter-productive as it reduces the feel of the finger on the ball. So unless there was some illegal substance on that Band-Aid or tape I think it was perfectly fine. Given that she threw well over 100 pitches in the game, the bandage likely was changed out several time during the game.

And I don't even call NCAA.

First, my TV screen is not ostentatious; it was a surprise Christmas gift from Santa (my wonderful wife) to my sons and me three year ago.

That said, my eyesight is still pretty good and I was not embellishing because you thought I didn't like what I saw. During the couple of innings that I watched there were two closeups of the Georgia pitcher that included very good views of her pitching hand. It was most definitely white athletic tape (not a band-aid) that covered her index finger from its tip to the second knuckle.

I was not outraged. I was surprised though. When one looks at the Rules Codes of the two diamond sports (baseball and softball), NCAA Softball is the only one that allows what the Georgia pitcher did. I looked up the NCAA Rules the next day and I was surprised that the pitcher was allowed to wear something on her pitching fingers, and when I asked Mark, Jr. (he umpires women's college softball) if he knew the rule, he confirmed that he knew the rule (Boy! Nobody tells me these things, !).

The other Ruled Codes prohibit pitchers from having such items on their pitching hands so as to prohibit the pitchers from gaining an advantage in gripping the ball.

My puzzlement is with the word "neutral". The word "neutral" allows for one hell of a lot of wiggle room for defining what is "neutral". I may be wrong but my gut (and I have a lot of gut, ) tells me that if we were to read the NCAA Softball Rule being discussed to all of the umpires that umpire baseball and softball (excluding professional baseball and college softball umpires) and then poll them about the word "neutral" I would bet dollars to donuts that a majority would first think flesh colored. And I think that a majority of those that umpire professional baseball would also first think flesh colored.

I accept the NCAA Ruling, I just believe that the Exception could be written a little better.

MTD, Sr.