illegal pitch, but why...?

[Rich]

My daughter is 13 and pitches. I'm her dad, so of course I think she's pretty good for her age.

I've been trying to get her to do this correctly for YEARS now, ever since I was her coach in 8U and 10U.

The umpires, however, simply won't call it. So she thinks I'm an idiot and it's never reinforced and she's sloppy. She never quick pitches, but she sometimes takes the plate while already bringing the hands together.

Last Sunday, she pitched in a championship game of a weekend tournament and got called for 2 illegal pitches. I was *thrilled*. They won going away and I got a teaching point across.....finally.

I wish EVERY umpire called this.

Then again, I couldn't get umpires to call ANY illegal pitches when I coached, even on obvious crow hops where the pitcher clearly replanted closer to the plate and drove off the foot. One umpire told me "they're 10U, are you really asking for me to call that?" I said, "Well, they're only 35 feet away and I think it's a pretty big advantage when she pitches from a few feet closer." He told me to go back to the dugout.