I have been watching Cat pitch, and she is good..And it looks as if she is illegal....But enough about the leaping,
what about the towel behind her back....
Umpires question....

Why aren't the opposing batters complaining about the towel... If they ask the plate umpire that it is a destraction and is a destraction at the release point, should the umpire have it removed????
It is of course not part of her uniform...

What is the rule and will a team challenge the towel???

Thanks

Okay, I'll bite...
 

Why is she illegal?

Any who cares about the towel? If you're focusing on the towel, you're not going to see the pitch...heck, you have to be behind her to see it!

Oh well, because you think that way...How about just letting
Cat wear a big sombrero. "If you look up at the sombrero, then you are not being focus on the pitch." So who cares about the sombrero....

New NCAA rule: pitchers can wear anything that they what to wear while on the mound..it is the batters responsiblity to say focus on the ball....

Sounds good the me....

Who cares about baseball?

If you want to get that way...
 

Would a sombrero count as proper head wear? does it meet requirements?

The point is, is the towel really distracting? I mean, look at it...it's white just like her shorts...you have to be LOOKING FOR IT if it is going to distract you.

The towel is to keep her hands dry, I would assume.

Or maybe it was to distract Michigan batters...maybe you're right...

Worked really well, didn't it?

You came to the wrong place to be a flamer dude.

Rosin bags are legal...They keep your hands dry...

A beach towel tucked in your pants may be ruled illegal..
If it is drying your hands that you are worried about, then Cat needs a hair-dryer in her back pants and just turn it on after every pitch....

What kind of field day would the MLB umpires have if Roger Clemens wore a beach towel in is back pants during a game...
Maybe there is vaseline on the towel or maybe even sandpaper..

The towel would not be allowed in MLB or NCAA baseball nor should it be allowed in NCAA softbal.


Need to hear some thoughts...

Im sure its been discussed and ruled on...play ball

Taking nothing away from Cat, as she is definitely an outstanding pitcher, but there's also a new kid on the block named JENNIE RITTER!! Watched her play HS ball, and even called a few of her games. "GO BLUE"!!!!

There was a thread on another board discussing Cat's "tail". One guy seemed to think it would be a distraction to the batters, and Cat knows this and that is why she is "cheating" by wearing the towel.

I say hogwash. She obviously wants it to be able to wipe her hands, or blow her nose, or shine her shoes, or whatever. I never saw her use it, but the camera wasn't on her all the time.

What I did see were a few shots from behind home showing the complete pitch delivery. The towel is barely visible to the batters, and then only visible when the pitch has already been released. I am certain that several NCAA officials have already ruled the towel to be no problem, and most batters are not gonna blame a towel for their inability to effectively hit Cat's pitches.

I also saw no IP's by Cat, nor any other pitcher. It seems that the "best of the best" are always held up to more scrutiny than others. Cat is an awesome pitcher there can be no doubt. Is she an illegal cheater? Only in the minds of those who choose not to try to work up to her level. Is Cat the best ever? She is good, but does have some losses. She has amassed an impressive record at an early age, including the Gold Medal.

On top of this, I have seen a towel (dishrag size) tucked in the pants of an NCAA BASEBALL pitcher! He would use it for drying his hands, as well as the ball.

You are right, there is no doubt that Cat Osterman is one of the best pitchers we have seen in recent years, and maybe even the best of the best.

However, you may have not seen any IP called, but there IS a fair amount of leaping going on by damn near every pitcher in this NCAA National Championship Series including Cat Osterman.

I thought she didn't want the tv camera to get a good shot of her . Maybe ? Brian

Hay.. i saw that towel.. i need to use one.. i use my shirt and i have a huge brown stain there now.. but yeah it does distract.. but its good and bad for both sides..

Not to beat a dead horse with this towel issue,but I see no problem with it.If you watch when they show Cat pitching from a view behind the plate,the towel comes into view well after the pitch is released and is on the opposite side of her pitching arm.The towel is visable on her right side and the pitch is released from her left hand.With the batter focused on the ball coming out of her hand,there is no way that towel can be a distraction to them.I assume that is the reason there are no questions concerning it from her opponents.

Jeff
NCAA Umpire
NFHS Umpire
ASA Umpire

Obviously, watching on TV it's much harder to determine IPs than in person with the camera angles and all. It seems as if every pitcher in the tournament pushes the limits on the pitching rule... I think she probably jumps the same or less than some of the other pitchers. Still, a great pitcher and a lot of fun to watch.

It seems like the towel thing is just people trying to make a big deal out of nothing. I'm guessing it wouldn't be as big of a deal if it were a different pitcher with the towel.

Apparently Monica Abbott has some kind of replanting issue. I didn't watch that game, but apparently she got IP'ed in the first game. She's also a really great pitcher (and wow does she throw hard), but her delivery is definitely original. Anyone know what's the point of bending over and all?

Either slowballbaker did not see your post, or was unaware of its meaning.

Regardless of what anyone says, Cat is illegal at times, as are several of
the ACES throwing in this tournament.

The towel, so what. Don't you think if it affected anything that with the
caliber of coaches that are coaching teams in this Series would have brought it
forward.

And speaking of illegal pitches, how many times have you seen one of these pitchers
go to their mouth without wiping before gripping and delivering the ball. Several,
if you have watched the games.

Where did the towel go?????????
In the last two games Cat had no towel..
I thought maybe because she was wearing long pants....,
but hold the phone she worn shorts last night and what? no towel....Let me tell you all something right now....slowballbaker knows what he is talking about...

Could slowballbaker be? No, surely not, BDB? :D

[Edited by whiskers_ump on Jun 6th, 2005 at 09:42 AM]

I saw an illegal pitch called on the Tennessee pitcher Abbott when she was pitching vs UCLA. Last night the commentators were talking about Cat’s pitching and showed a close up shot of her feet. She came off the ground and no illegal pitch was called. Lisa Fernandez said “opps that was illegal.” It doesn’t appear she leaps all of the time but I am not there so it is hard to tell. I think the teams that are there got there by playing the game not complaining about towels. There has been some great games.

It's easy to see an illegal pitch in slow motion from several different angles. Fernandez was partially correct, that was an IP on the close-up replay, but it was not a crow-hop as she reported. I couldn't tell 100% but I believe that Monica Abbott was called for a crow-hop. The crow-hop is a rarer occurrence than the leap, and much easiear to see IMO.

I have also enjoyed the WCWS, wish I coulda stayed awake for all the Michigan/Tennessee game.

Regardless of what anyone says, Cat is illegal at times, as are several of
the ACES throwing in this tournament.
[/B][/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more and although there have been some IP's called, it never seems to be for a crow hop or leap. As I've said before, if the crow hop / leap is not going to be called on the sports biggest stage and while on national TV, then remove the crow hop/leap as IP's from the rulebook.

A good game
 

JEL,

I stayed up to watch the end of the Tenn./Mich. game. You missed a good one. I only wish that I could see the game today. I did not see the entire game, and did not see the IP called on Abbott. But, I did see what looked to me to be leaping from her. Of course, it's hard for to tell from that center field camera angle in full motion. I'm starting to come around to the idea given on this forum to just get rid of the leap and crow hop rule in college, as I am getting tired of hearing "Kat this, Kat that" every game, and thinking to myself, "yeh, she's good - but illegal". Also, and I can't remember what game it was yesterday, but there did not appear to be any drag mark in front of the rubber at all. I guess both pitchers had the leap going on - flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

Looking forward to UCLA vs. ??? tonight (my guess is it will be Mich.)

Re: A good game
 

Lord help me, someone agreed with me...................

Re: A good game
 

Good Guess !!!!

I did see the IP called on Abbott.

She went into her strange, bent-over preliminary stance, brought her hands together, then her pivot foot slid forward off of the pitching plate prior to her hands separating. She then delivered the pitch.

And that, despite all the confusion with the "leap", is a genuine, honest-to-goodness crow hop!

I stayed awake to see the Tenn./Mich. game. Being a southern boy I was pulling the Tenn. I don't pull for Tenn. very often. It was a great game. My DD is going to Alabama this fall so I was pulling for the Tide until they got knock out of the tournament. When Mich. went up 3 to 0 I gave up on yesterday’s game. When I saw Tenn. came back on Mich to lose by 1 I wish I had stayed with it a little longer. Guess I will have to pull for Mich. now. UCLA has won it enough though I do like their freshman pitcher "Jelly"