I have been reading in the Official Rules of Softball '03. I am looking to find out about the total number of times a pitcher can pass her hip before releasing the ball. There is a girl in our league who has a good chance for post season play but I am afraid that she is pitching illegally and will be called on it later on if it is not corrected now.

Charli,
What rules are you looking at?

Steve M

Charli,

The short answer is a maximum of 3 times; once going backards and twice going forward if she is a windmill style pitcher. (in all rules, I think)

SamC

The ASA Softball rules

Thanks, Charli. We see questions on a number of different sanctioning bodies and it is important that we know which set of rules we're dealing with.

Sam is right about the three times past the hip. For ASA, that will be covered by Rule 6, Section 3 - the legal delivery. ASA does not make mention of the number of times past the hip. They do so that the pitcher may not make two complete revolutions.

I am going to assume that you're dealing with an age group that is younger than the 14&U group. Since you have an ASA rule book, check the Point of Emphasis section that immediately follows the rules - my book is in the van or I would tell you what page. In this section there are six features of the pitching rule for fastpitch and I think that you will see the pitching rule simplified a bit.

Steve M

There is no rule about passing the hip. The rule is based on full revolutions in the forward motion, with 2 or more being illegal.
The arm can come past the hip a second time before the release as long as it does not pass the starting point of the forward motion a second time.