I was at an ASA 14U tourney this last weekend, well it was a rain fest most of the time. But during yesterday her was the play. Ball gets back to the pitcher and has mud on it, she wipes the ball in the dirt to remove the mud, then goes the mitt and pitches. BU calls illegal pitch for putting a foreign substance on the ball. Well needless to say Def coach protests and after a lengthy discussion between coaches, umpires UIC, TD and even the ASA rep the call stood. 2-1 game bottom of the last inning (time limit) the call didn't change the outcome of the game but it seemed a little "picky" to me. I was wondering what you all thought.

I agree this could be called an illegal pitch but....
My thought is if I say that I would call time and go to the pitcher and ask if the ball was alright and tell her not to rub it in the dirt without wiping it off before she pitched, as that could be an illegal pitch. A little preventive umpiring I guess. But what say you all???

totally agree - some preventive umpiring would have prevented the situation from occurring ...

Maybe it's just me... but how does wiping the ball in the dirt remove the mud?

Without being there, it sounds a little like the guy was overeager to make a call. If she's getting the mud off, then do it, or just get another ball. Unless the mud was in the infield also and she was just getting more on the ball. But the assumption is she was getting mud off the ball, so I don't see a problem with it.

There was a puddle that it hit and the dirt was dry around the mound. And she also sort of wiped it on the edge of the rubber to peel the mud off.

If she would have left the mud on the ball, then these Ump's would have been OK with that I suppose ??????.
I agree that the "Blues" made a problem out of nothing.