NCAA Pitching Lane lines
 

OK, after a number of games, I have not seen these lines drawn in the same way at many of the sites I've been to. I have seen these 4-inch lines drawn so that the 4-inch line is split by the end of the pitcher's plate. I have seen these lines drawn so that the inside of the line begins at the outside of the pitcher's plate. I have seen these lines drawn so that the outside of these lines is at the ouside of the pitcher's plate. I'm not seeing any consistency in how these lines are drawn.
From my standpoint, I see the purpose of these lines as preventing F1 from extending the width of the pitcher's plate. If my understanding is correct, the only way these lines should be drawn is with the outside of the line lining up with the outside of the pitcher's plate.
If, however, the purpose of these lines is to limit or prevent the violation being called for being outside these lines, then we can pretty much eliminate the call by having the inside of this lane line lineup with the outside of the pitcher's plate. Now, these site that split the line with the outside of the pitcher's plate just didn't make any sense to me.
What are the rest of you seeing

At the start of the season this is exactly what I was seeing. But after a lot of communication from the assigner to the college coaches and umpires, I have not seen the problem in the last month.

What I find interesting is that the lines are supposed to be drawn from the ends (outside of line at outside of plate) of the pitcher's plate towards the inside corners of the batter's boxes. When drawn this way, they are not parallel and are wider that 24" the closer you get to the front of the circle. So calling the lines is not necessarily calling by the book.

I, for one, can't wait until the lines are done away with.

The pitcher's plate is 24 inches wide, the inside lines of the batter's box are 29 inches apart (if marked correctly). Given that the front edge of the batter's box is about 40 feet from the pitcher's plate this means that the pitcher's lane is only about 1 inch wider at the circle end than at the pitcher's plate. If it is obviously wider then it is marked incorrectly (possibly because the batter's box is marked wrong).

The wording of 10.4.1 was changed to coincide with the pitcher's lane. I believe that the pitcher's lane was added to the field markings because of the many complaints of illegal pitches not being called and because the complaints were true a large percentage of the time.

I stand corrected about calling by the book. Thanks.

As for why the lanes were added, we probably can all agree that the WCWS was a major factor in the rule change, as it always seems to be. The lines are a good tool, while they last. It wouldn't bother me if the lines were done away with, since I have called the violation without them, but, if we continue to have this lane, maybe the rules should require the grounds crew to redraw them at a given interval, as long as it does not delay the game too much.

Some coaches are asking that they be re-drawn when particular opposing pitchers enter the game. Some requests have been granted, some denied, depending on the umpire's discretion. This has led to some issues and even an ejection. Not sure what the answer is, but hopefully this will be looked at before next season.

I would think this would be handled exactly the same way as any other request by a coach to have grounds maintenance re-apply any of the other lines mid-game. How would a request to re-draw the batter's box be handled?

The word from the Staff was "at the umpire's discretion".

Here! Here!:D

I have seen the same things you have listed here. There is no consistency. I even have a game where they were hastily drawn a couple of weeks ago, where with home plate being at the 6 o'clock position of the circle, these lines were pointing to seven o'clock.

They are, after the first half inning! :D

I had to check to make sure they had changed it. :)

And as one of the guys at our association meeting pointed out every play and every call has the potential to be on the internet (or as he said - yoo-hoos end up on youtube). With the number of softball games shown on TV growing the NCAA can't let obvious violations continue to happen.

I worked a game yesterday. After the first five pitches they lines were gone. Every game I worked this year, the lines didn't last past the first inning.

I have heard that we can expect a change in the future regarding these lines. We have a rules committee member at one of our local schools and they have been keeping a close eye on how the lines are working. The bad news is, they love them and want to keep them. They like them so much, they want to make them longer so that the entire line never gets completely removed and there is always something to assist the umpires in making this call. Whether they extend a couple feet or many, many feet is what is yet to be determined.

That is bad news. The point is, the whole line concept is ridiculous, especially when you never see them marked in a uniform fashion. The games I worked yesterday the lines didn't even contact the outer edges of the pitching plate. They began about an inch outside of the most outside edge of the plate, rendering them absolutely useless for their alleged purpose. I see them mismarked more than I see them marked correctly. Most of the coaches I have heard say anything about them have wanted them done away with.

So who, exactly, is it that loves them???

That would be the coaches who have to face pitchers who have good breaking pitches...:rolleyes: