Thank you, Cecil!

If it is a hitable pitch, and I'm not talking way outside or way inside and the edge of the ball just "brushes" the plate, it's a strike folks. We get paid to call strikes and outs, not balls and safe. Think about it.
I'm not talking cheating the batters, either. Once you have enough experience and confidence, you don't worry about your zone or what any one says about it.

Sounds tight.
 

Elaine,
Sounds like my zone.
...And in Baseball, it's one ball in and two balls out.
I like it, and yes, those pitches are very 'hittable'.
mick

What I have found effective is working with the catcher espicially at the upper levels 14+, where you have someone who specializes as a catcher not just someone whose turn it is to catch. Also, when she first comes out I remind her how many warmup pitches the pitcher has left and quietly tell her I have two rules: 1) I don't get hit and 2) what I call you agree with. If the pitcher asks about the pitch she will tell her get it up or move it over and if the coach asks I expect her to tell the coach that it missed the zone.

I have been doing this for at least 10 years in both baseball and softball and have never had a problem with it.

I could imagine doing this in a slow pitch game :)

Little doubt that there would be some extremely short games due to lack of personnel.

I work mostly HS and college baseball, but the parallels between baseball and FP are definitely there.

Umpires do not have problems working the strike zone in and out. Being good and consistent up and down is the key.

I used to work a lot of FP and the worst ball/strike umpires are the same in both FP and baseball -- they have no timing and are calling the pitch right as the ball hits the glove. These umpires call a lot of shin-high strikes (they already decided it was a strike feet in front of the plate, before the ball drops) and get constant grief for it. I've seen more of this in softball, and I think it is because many FP umpires are faster in calling pitches than their baseball brethren and because of the nature of the pitches.

Rich

is there some way to diagram what some of you are calling strikes ??

"one ball in and two balls out" in my opinion, is very wrong, unless i'm not envisioning what you are suggesting

the job is to follow the rules ... we seem to complain enough when coaches (etc) have their own interpretations, so why are you creating the same situation?

inside edge of the ball on the outside edge of the plate = strike ... period

bobbrix,
What I think most are describing is how most of us were taught that any part of the ball crosses any part of the plate it is a strike. Meaning place the ball with the very edge touching the plate (the rest of the ball toward the batters box) now lift that up to the height of the batter and that is the edge of the strike zone. I have seen WAY too many girls (I do ASA JO and FED SB only) that won't hit the inside pitch they think I am crazy for calling that a strike. I agree that in a perfect world everyone would have the same strike zone and it would not vary at all game to game night to night but that will never happen. Everyone has a different zone get used to what is called that game and hit what s/he is going to call. Just as I tell my pitcher's if s/he ain't gonna call it then don't throw it, the batter needs to know if s/he is gonna call it we better hit it. One other pet peave of mine is the low strike. Does everyone agree that the bottom and top of the zone is based on the batter positioned at the plate?? It seems in the lower levels coaches want the girls all the way in the back of the box to "slow down" the pitcher and give you more time to see the ball. What they can't believe is that now the ball that crosses their batter mid shin is now a strike as it was knee high when it crossed the plate.

Correct, Dave - the strike zone stays over the plate no matter where the batter is standing.

In rec "fast" pitch - in quotes, because these pitches many times have a bit of an arc, the pitcher are slow and the coaches will put the batters up in the box, and then complain with a pitch that is dropping down across the batters face is a strike.

There are many variations of this theme...

A skilled pitcher with a lot of movement catches the outside edge, but by the time it hits the catcher's glove, the pitch is obviously well outside.

etc., etc.

He was describing baseball - not as far outside as you think.

Good call, Dakota.
5-1/2" ;)
mick