Replant

[Dakota]

Both ASA and NFHS are ambiguous on then the pitching regulations end. NFHS 6-1-2-c says

c. the pivot foot may remain in contact with or may push off and drag away from the pitching plate prior to the front foot touching the ground, as long as the pivot foot remains in contact with the ground and within the 24-inch length. Pushing off with the pivot foot from a place other than the pitcher’s plate is illegal.

The sentence about pushing off from other than the plate is separate from where it talks about the stride foot landing, leaving some room for ambiguity.

Somewhere along the way, I was taught / learned / read / picked up / make up that the pitching delivery rules (mostly contained in ASA 6-3 and NFHS 6-1) started when the hands came together and separated again to begin the delivery and ended when the stride foot landed. I'm willing to relearn this long-standing "truth", but merely restating ASA 6-3-J in isolation from the rest of 6-3... I'm having trouble with that.

Even the term "release" cannot be interpreted in enforcing rule 6-3 as being a single instant in time (unlike its interpretation in the LBR). Otherwise, virtually every windmill pitcher on the planet is illegal. How can a "release" (ball leaves the hand) ever be simultaneous with the leap and drag (name of the style - does not imply an illegal leap) windmill "stride"? How many windmill pitchers have their stride foot land while the ball is still coming around on the windmill motion? Simultaneous means simultaneous, so if "release" is the instant the ball leaves the hand, then the step was NOT simultaneous with the release. It was BEFORE the release. Obviously, the rule does not mean that and is not intended to be interpreted that way. Unless I'm missing something else again...

So, when DO the regulations of ASA 6-3 end? If not when the stride foot lands, and if release is not an instant in time in the rule, when?

As I said before, I've somewhere along the way come to believe that the pitcher can do pretty much anything she wants (as far as pitching mechanics rules are concerned) before bringing the hands together and after the stride foot lands.