Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Can somebody answer the question about USSSA pitcher movement on the bar?

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In the past several weeks we have seen pitchers with both feet on the bar, one foot on the bar and one behind it, and one with both on the bar then stepping back a good 6 inchs to a foot to sling shot forward. Is either of the later 2 illegal, and is there some hard copy description of illegal movement that can be presented to officals. The rule book appears to just be a tool of reference and the "sorry". One official stated that the girls are just learning to play the game and he was overlooking it. I don't think so if they are playing select in the upper divisions, but that is just me.

 

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I USSSA the pitcher is allowed to take a step back. Also, the Ohio High School Rule is the same they may also take a step back.

 

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Although allowed by USSSA, it will never fly at ASA sanctioned events. If you might ever play an ASA tournament, which will be likely if you are serious about travel ball, you would not want to relearn on the fly.

My daughter did this last year coming from rec ball, and it was the first thing her pitching coach changed when she began to work with her last fall.

 

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If you're going to put both feet on the bar, you have to put your drink down first. Sorry couldn't resist

 

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The USSSA pitching rules mirror the high school rules in that the pitcher may start with just the pivot foot contacting the pitcher's plate and the step back is legal. A pitcher may also start with both feet on the plate and not step back, if she desires.

ASA, NSA and NCAA require the pitcher to have both feet contacting the pitcher's plate and do not allow the step back.

For all the other alphabet soup of santioning bodies, your guess is as good as mine! The above are the only ones I get involved with. You would need to check the rule book for each of the others as your mileage might vary!

Why the difference? Up until about 1980, all of the rule sets allowed the step back. ASA changed this as it was thought that pitching was becoming too dominate in the game of softball. Having the pitcher keep both feet on the rubber was seen as a way of "handicapping" the pitcher to level the playing field.

High school didn't make the change, apparently not seeing the same dominate pitching that ASA was. Over the years, as new sanctioning bodies sprung up, they would copy one or the other. So, today you have a near split down the middle where some allow starting with one foot on the plate and stepping back and some do not.

 

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I USSSA the pitcher is allowed to take a step back. Also, the Ohio High School Rule is the same they may also take a step back.

Ohio High School Rule: The pitcher may only take a step back prior to the hands being brought together. Once the hands are brought together and are in motion, the pitcher shall not take more than one step which must be forward. (See NFHS 6-1-2 a, b, and c.)

FGASTPITCH! Anything else, And you're playing to SLOW!