illegal pitches

Question
We play in a middle school fastpitch league using Florida Highschool rules. Most of the pitchers we face range from realy good to average. How ever there is one pitcher who does not pitch fast pitch. She toes the rubber, no wide up and slings a high arc pitch that angles down on the batter. Again there is NO wind up the ball starts at her hip and she arcs it from her hip. Is this a legal pitch in fast pitch? I'm not concerned about the speed. Good batters should be able to adjust  but pitches that arc down from over 10 and higher?

Answer
Hi B Littlejohn,

Thank you for your question.  I couldn't find a single aspect of that young lady's pitch that is illegal.  Let's take a closer look at your description of her pitch.  She toes the rubber, which is required.  Then, you say that she doesn't wind up.  Well, there are no rules outlining the minimum amount of pitcher movement required to qualify as a windup, only rules to limit excessive windups.  So, after she brings her separated hands together for 1-10 seconds, she is permitted to deliver her pitch.  Then, she slings a high-arcing pitch that starts at her hip and angles down on the batter.  There are no restrictions against a pitch slung from the hip, as long as the release of the ball and the follow-through of the hand and wrist are forward past the vertical line of the body, and the hand is below the hip and the wrist not farther from the body than the elbow.  There are no upper or lower speed limits for a fast pitch pitch.  There are no upper or lower height requirements, either.  If her arcing pitches pass through the strike zone then they are as legitimate as ones that come through on a straight line at 75 mph.

However, and I can't help but comment here, I predict that her success with this method will be very short-lived, and for good reasons you NEVER see the slow pitch in the fast pitch game.  Firstly, the offense won't take long to learn how to tee off on those soft offerings.  Secondly, base runners will absolutely steal her blind.  Since a base runner in fast pitch is allowed to leave their base as soon as the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, stealing the next base will be literally a walk in the park while the catcher waits to catch and then throw a pitch that came down from 10+ feet.  

Scott Kelly