Balk/Illegal Pitch???

[AtlUmpSteve]

The pitch actually begins in softball when one hand is removed from the ball after the one touch. There is no set; there is a required pause to take or simulate taking a signal. Some pitchers' motion includes part of the windup prior to bringing the hands together.

The above means that the pitch may or may not have started. If it started, it is an illegal pitch; and all illegal pitches are penalized by a ball on the batter, and a base to each runner. The ball is not dead in any case. If the pitch did not start, this is a "no pitch", and the ball is still alive. The word balk "balk" does not appear in softball rulebooks.

This may be different in the baseball cloned rulesets (Little League and Pony), but is true for all softball based rules.