Softball Pitching - Either We're Playing by the Rules or Not

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

I have to admit sometimes I struggle to find topics for these weekly rants. Then other times, the topics are delivered to me by the U.S. Post Office.

Such is the case this week. The latest issue of the NFCA newspaper Fastpitch Delivery has an article with a sidebar discussing the NCAA's newfound fascination with the pitching rules.

Prior to the start of the year, NCAA coaches were notified that legal pitching was a point of emphasis for umpires this year. Now that the season is well underway, it seems the prevailing sentiment among NCAA coaches is "You were serious about that?"

The article talks about how many illegal pitches have been called thus far and the effect it's had on the game. Coaches are complaining that forcing their pitchers to adhere to the rules, particularly those against crow hopping (a replant and push-off from a second starting point) and leaping (both feet in the air at the same time) is throwing them off. They are complaining as well that the pitchers didn't have enough time to adjust and so umpires should back off of calling illegal pitches this year. Sounds like the NFCA agrees.

What the what? Pitchers didn't have enough time to adjust to pitch legally? They've had their entire careers to learn to pitch legally!

As far as I know the pitching rules have been the same for many years now. They should have been pitching that way all along, and their coaches should've been insisting on it as well.

I can't believe all these NCAA head coaches think that getting away with it up until now is a valid excuse. But if they want to test that theory, here's what I suggest.

Find a stop sign and roll through it in front of a police officer. Get a ticket, then go to court and tell the judge you've always been able to roll through it before, and he/she should give you a year to adjust to having to come to a complete stop at the sign. See what that gets you.

The rules are there for everyone, and they should be applied whether head coaches like them or not. If this is what the NCAA chooses to emphasize, then it's incumbent on the coaches to make sure their pitchers pitch legally. It's not as tough to do as you might think. It just takes some extra work.

The other way to go, of course, is to work to get the pitching rules changed. I have no problem with that either. If the rules are archaic or difficult to enforce, then go to ASA, the NCAA, the National Federation, the Knights of Pythias, etc. and suggest they be changed. Campaign for it, fight for it. If you're successful, problem solved. Until that time, though, you need to follow them.

What's interesting in the pitching rules debate is that the rules are supposedly in place to keep a pitcher from gaining an advantage. I'm not actually sure what advantage they gain at this point. I've seen pitchers violate the rules pretty blatantly, and they didn't look any faster or better than the ones who followed the rules.

Maybe it made a difference at one time, but it doesn't seem to anymore. Or maybe having the rules there prevents pitchers from doing something more blatant that would create an advantage. Someone smarter than me is going to have to explain that, and offer up some hard evidence of how much difference it makes.

But as long as the rules are there, they need to be followed. No exceptions, no excuses. If your pitcher can't pitch within the rules, time to give someone who can a chance. Enforce them now and you'll see a lot more legal pitches in the future. And the game will be the better for it.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.