Legal pitch?

[kchamp]

Fed game (but I'd like to hear from the other leagues).

The pitcher has been delivering her pitches using the windmill technique. Now she pitches a change-up that's very deceptive. Normally the ball is released to the batter immediatly after the free foot strides and plants. Here the ball is released to the batter early in the free foot stride, well before the free foot plant. The pitcher then continues her windmill like normal (but ofcourse the ball is already gone).

Has she committed an illegal pitch or does it fall within the rules?

Kent

[Roger Greene]

Kent,

The pitcher may not continue her wind up after releasing the pitch. If she went past her shoulder (12 o'clock) she committed an illegal pitch. If she stopped her arm without passing her shoulder after releasing, she is legal.

You don't usually see this at upper levels. The batter is too likely to drive the pitch directly back at the F1's nose with much more velocity that it was pitched!

Roger Greene

[Dakota]

Roger is correct - this is illegal in all codes I am aware of.

ASA Rule 6-3-J
The pitcher must not make another revolution after releasing the ball.

[Joe Kupka]

By the description, it seems to me that there isn't a second revolution, which would of couse be illegal. The ball is simply released well before the planting of the foot, followed by a normal follow-through. This could be very deceptive to the batter, as far as throwing off her timing, but I see nothing illegal in the delivery as defined in the rulebook. This is similar to the tactic of slapping the glove against the thigh. It's done at the same point on every pitch, but delay it by a millisecond, and it totally throws off the batter's timing. Very effective, very legal.

[Edited by Joe Kupka on Mar 5th, 2002 at 10:00 AM]

[Dakota]

Originally posted by Joe Kupka
By the description, it seems to me that there isn't a second revolution, which would of couse be illegal.

You may be right, but Kent said...

Originally posted by kchamp
Here the ball is released to the batter early in the free foot stride, well before the free foot plant. The pitcher then continues her windmill like normal (but ofcourse the ball is already gone).

I visualized "early in the stride" to be before the windmill motion, and "continues her windmill" to mean a full rotation after the ball is released.

The pitch you are describing is the so-called "sling shot" motion, and you are right, it is perfectly legal, and can be a very deceptive changeup when mixed in with the windmill motion. The key is the pitcher cannot make another revolution (i.e. go past 12:00) after releasing the ball.

[Skahtboi]

There is a coach in these parts that teaches something similar to what Kent originally posted. I have seen it on more than one occasion and have called illegal pitch everytime. The way this is "supposed" to work is that the continuing motion of the arm is what the batter is supposed to key on, not the ball that is flying to them. In these cases the reason I gave a call of illegal pitch is because the pitcher continues her arm for one full windmill revolution more after the ball is released.

Scott