Illegal or Legal, what are your stipulations?

[nickdangerME]

What I have seen recently in both an 11/12 and 13/14 LL tournaments are pitchers who begin with just the heel of their pivot foot on the plate, the rest of the foot in the hole in front of the plate and pointing towards home. As they stride forward, they pivot on the toes or ball of the pivot foot, removing their heel from the plate and reorienting the pivot foot parallel to the plate. Then they complete the push off and drag from this sideways foot position. They end up with the effective part of their push off perhaps 3 to 5 inches in front of the plate after they have lost contact with the plate by simply pivoting the pivot foot. They do not seem to have taken a "step" because the toes or ball of the pivot foot have reoriented without having moved horizontally or vertically and without losing contact with the ground.

I have not called this illegal, but it has been a marked visual contrast to other pitchers who start with their heel on the plate and toe in the hole, but maintain the orientation of the pivot foot towards the plate as they pitch. These other pitchers are presumedly also getting the effective part of the push from the ball or toes of the foot (3-5 inches in front of the plate), but it looks legal.

Of course, both contrast with pitchers who start with the toe or ball of the foot on the plate and clearly push off from the plate itself rather than the hole in front of the plate.

Any thoughts on this?

Nick