illegal fast pitches N.F.H.S., A.S.A.

Question
When the pitcher seperates her hands, on the pitcher's plate, her next more has to be to the plate. She must take a step foward towards the plate , with in the 24" lane of the pitcher's plate,with a simultaneous release of the ball. You must drag off the pitcher's plate with your pivot foot. Would an illegal pitch  have been thrown if you complete a step,pushed off the pitcher's plate, dragged to the stride foot and then released the ball? When the stride foot is down and the pivot foot is even with the stride foot and the release of the ball occures,would the pivot foot be a second plant because weight would have to be put back on the pivot foot so you would not fall down or the foot would be used to keep balance? ( second starting point ) If the pitching distancs is set at 43 feet, why do regulations allow the pitchers to take the large step towards the batter and release the ball at 38 feet? We do know that you can drag off the pitcher's plate as long as the stride foot is still in the air. If the drag of the of the pivot foot, to the stride foot, would be considered a replant,would you consider that style of pitching an advantage for the pitcher over the offence? Do you delieve that it is our job , as officials to stop all unfair play? As an official, working the bases, and you notice a circle at the pitcher's plate and a drag for a distance and then another circle at the end of the drag, would that not be a replant? Would you not apply the same method with the step, drag and release style of pitching? Thank you for your time. I am an official and I have called more than my share of illegal pitchers. I'll call it quites for now. Louis

Answer
Hi Louis,
Thank you for your thoughtful question, which actually contained seven questions.  I quoted them all verbatim below:

Q: "Would an illegal pitch have been thrown if you complete a step, pushed off the pitcher's plate, dragged to the stride foot and then released the ball?"
A: No.  Everything you described is legal.

Q: "When the stride foot is down and the pivot foot is even with the stride foot and the release of the ball occures, would the pivot foot be a second plant because weight would have to be put back on the pivot foot so you would not fall down or the foot would be used to keep balance? (second starting point)"
A: No.  The pivot foot wasn't necessarily replanted just because it dragged as far forward as the stride foot before the ball got released; no rule prohibits it.

Q: "If the pitching distancs is set at 43 feet, why do regulations allow the pitchers to take the large step towards the batter and release the ball at 38 feet?"
A: Well, the rules' authors are the ones who would have the best ability to answer this question, but I don't mind taking a stab at one!  From a STARTING DISTANCE of 43', the authors must have felt that a legally-delivered pitch would still leave the pitcher far away enough away from the batter for the match between pitcher and batter to be a fair one.  Gravity and especially friction seriously limit how far a pitcher is able to push forward from the pitcher's plate during a legal pitch.  Pitching distances, over time, have increased in an effort to keep the pitcher from dominating the batter.  That 43' distance you refer to was just 40'.

Q: "If the drag of the of the pivot foot, to the stride foot, would be considered a replant, would you consider that style of pitching an advantage for the pitcher over the offence?"
A: This is a loaded question that I can't answer, as I don't consider a drag of the pivot foot to the stride foot as a replant.

Q: "Do you delieve that it is our job, as officials to stop all unfair play?"
A: No, not at all.  I have umpired hundreds of unfair softball games.  The ones that stand out were slaughters that just dragged on unmercifully, such as when a 12-U-C and a 14-U-A team somehow got paired in the same tournament.  But despite their unfairness, stopping those games never entered my mind until the run-ahead rules kicked in.  I was just there to umpire them.

Q: "As an official, working the bases, and you notice a circle at the pitcher's plate and a drag for a distance and then another circle at the end of the drag, would that not be a replant?"
A: I can't say whether or not the marks in the dirt you describe prove a replant, as personally I only observe pitchers to determine whether or not they are legal.  However, that said, with a legal pitch I wouldn't expect to see any additional marks in the dirt after the one left by the pivot foot when it initially dragged for a distance away from the pitcher's plate.

Q: "Would you not apply the same method with the step, drag and release style of pitching?"
A: Please see the Q above.  The same answer applies!

Scott Kelly