Illegal Pitch

[UmpireErnie]

In a first round game at the WCWS, a pitcher from USF was called for several IPs, all for leaping. ESPN had many camera angles on it, and the IPs called were pretty obvious. It was not a question of if the pivot foot was off the ground, the only question was how far off. In any event definitely IPs.

But everyone gets in an uproar over calling IPs. The logic is often "she has not been called for it all year and she is being called for it now" so obviously the umpire calling it is in the wrong, even when video clearly shows that it's not even close. That was certainly the case with the USF game in the WCWS. Jessica Mendoza went on for quite some time lamenting the fact that these IPs were being called in such an important game when they had not been called all season. Was she at all of USFs games this season? She even acknowledged that yes, the video shows it's an obvious leap even in real time. But somehow it's wrong to call it? She seemed to believe it was unfair to this pitcher to actually call the IPs because she could not fix it in the middle of the game. Except she did, every time it was called the next pitch was perfectly legal. Hmmmm...

These kinds of arguments are often used on the field and the result is some umpires are hesitant to "see" an IP because they don't want to deal with the whining. Which of course just fuels the fire when it is called.

The game is for the players and fans, not the umpires. If those who play the game want to allow leaping (as in Men's ASA fastpitch) then change the rule. Until that time, I'll call the IPs I see. I called four this weekend in our State HS tournament. Nobody said a word.