Fast Pitch Question

Question
I recently saw a girls HS softball game. A pitcher was behind the rubber and as she came to the rubber, she would not come to a complete stop and set before going into a pitching delivery, rather in one smooth motion she would walk towards the rubber and in one continuos motion deliver the pitch.

I know that in baseball, it is illegal to quick pitch and in constitutes a balk.

In this case, it did not give the batters a chance to set in the box ready. Note: she did not do this all the time it was occasional (30%), the rest of the time it was normal.

No one said anything, including umpires, coaches, or players, unless they did and I did not noticed.

Thanks

Answer
This is an illegal pitch.  The award is a ball to the batter and any players on base get to advance one base.  The pitcher MUST pause after they place their foot/feet in proper contact with the pitching plate, pause and take or simulate taking a sign from the catcher, then they can start their pitch.

The word pause doesn't appear in the rule book but it is implied.  If you did not need to do this a pitcher could do a walk up or run up pitch.  This type of pitch is used as a drill to increase a pitchers speed.  It is illegal to do this in a game.

It is unfortunate that wasn't called as illegal pitches are a point of emphasis this year with the umpires from the NHFS (National Federation of High Schools).