USSSA pitching ?

hoosier419

Starting Player
Maybe an umpire can shed light on this:
Our pitcher releases the ball towards the plate and almost simultaneously lets his glove flip off his hand behind the ball. glove lands maybe 5 ft in front of him. batter hits the ball foul for an out. other team who plays utrip says you can not release your glove towards the plate which makes sense but our ump has no idea. he goes to meet with td and another ump. they come back with a interference call and award the batter 1st base instead of the out.
What is the proper call?
Was it a legal pitch?
 

baldgriff

Lead Oompah Loompah....
I will say that I have had multiple conversations on this one and its pretty much a 50/50 interpretation. Some will say that throwing the glove is meant to interfere and distract the batter. Others take the position that as long as the glove doesnt hit the ball in flight it is fine. I am not aware of any specific statement in the rules stating you cant throw the glove. So this comes down to an interpretation of what constitutes "interference" as it pertains to this scenario.
 

mazzamouth

<font color="#191970">Punching Judy Swinger</font>
This can be called interference.. I know USSSA wont allow, the Colorado UIC does not like guys getting away with stuff like this.
 

aburhart

Just call me B
Seems like your pitcher is setting himself up to get hurt sooner or later. With no glove to protect himself he is gonna take one to the nose eventually.
 

chiefgator

Crafty Veteran
Nothing in the rulebook SPECIFICALLY states this is an unfairly delivered pitch. The umpire's job is to maintain SAFE and FAIR play, however.

IM MY OPINION, I would say that the player doing that would be an unsafe act. (along the lines of rule 7.4.C Pitcher must face home plate on delivery of pitch.)

I would warn the pitcher, and tell him that I am not going to allow it and if he did it again I would remove him from the pitching position.
 

pompetti

Softball Player
Wouldn't the ruling be obstruction, not interference?

As others have said, it's umpires judgement, but I can think of 2 possible calls:

Obstruction definition:

B. Obstruction is the act of a fielder which impedes the batter from striking at a pitched ball.

Rule 8 Sec. 3. THE BATTER IS AWARDED FIRST BASE:

C. If the catcher or other fielder obstructs or prevents him from striking at a pitched ball. The offensive manager has the option to accept obstruction or result of the play.

EFFECT Sec. 3. C. When a batter is obstructed, the batter is awarded first base because of the obstruction, EXCEPT that if the batter succeeds in hitting the pitch and reaches first safely and no preceding runner is put out before advancing at least one advanced base, the obstruction should not be called or enforced. If the obstruction is not enforced, the ball remains live and in play.


or

Rule 5 Sec. 7. NO DEFENSIVE PLAYER shall take a position in the batter’s line of vision and with deliberate attempt, act unsportsmanslike in any manner in an effort to distract the batter.
EFFECT Sec 7. The umpire shall first warn the offender, and then eject any player from the game who repeats the offense.
 

chiefgator

Crafty Veteran
Rule 5 Sec. 7. NO DEFENSIVE PLAYER shall take a position in the batter’s line of vision and with deliberate attempt, act unsportsmanslike in any manner in an effort to distract the batter.
EFFECT Sec 7. The umpire shall first warn the offender, and then eject any player from the game who repeats the offense.

Great call Pompetti!

This is the ruling I was thinking about when I answered this morning. I feel better knowing that my thought process was backed up by a rule, even if I did not have the actual rule number memorized.

I would have been wrong to remove him, I would have been right to eject him. But, i knew I was on the right track. Then again, most of the guys that would try a Dbag move like this would fly off the handle when he was warned and removed, and earn an ejection for subsequent conduct anyway...:cool:
 

baldgriff

Lead Oompah Loompah....
Sec 5.7 talks about a player taking a position in front of the batter to distract him. I dont think you can infer that throwing a glove 5 feet is what this is talking about. I would think this means moving to a physical position on the field, outside of your normal position, in order to distract the batter.
 

JGorms41

Addicted to Softballfans
Just what I would want as a pitcher. Hot Balls, Hot Bats and No glove.....I think he's been hit in the head once to much!
 

hoosier419

Starting Player
I can agree more that our pitcher was an idiot for doing this. however it sounds to e like this should have been a legal pitch the glove never contacted the ball. the glove was released behind the ball. the batter hit the ball. thanks for everyones input. to bad this ultimately costs us 2 runs in a game we lost 14-12.
 

egibree

Addicted to Softballfans
I agree that this action is a distraction and should be stopped.....a warning should have been issued because it was done with the intent to interfere with the batters line of sit and to take his attention away from the pitch.........but lets say for arguments sake the pitcher throws the glove first let say in foul territory, the glove lands on the ground then the ball is pitched...............proceed

and yes paul the kid from best oil did this to water last summer and water almost scalped him
 

hoosier419

Starting Player
Again I agree that it was a bush league move and the batter should have drilled him with the ball. But from all the comments I have read no one can say for sure this is against the rules and should have been ruled interference. There was no real obstruction to the batter and to me it would be no more distracting than a pitcher yelling and running around after a pitch. All of which have occurred and been allowed. Was watching another game and the shortstop ran in to pitcher yelling about his contact coming out and as the batter watched that the pitcher delivered the ball.....strike 3, also read about a pitcher yelling in to the ump that the ball was illegal then delivering a pitch......strike 3. To me these would be more distracting than a glove behind the ball. Just curious as to what kind of ridiculous crap you can get away with.
 

JGorms41

Addicted to Softballfans
the just did in 5-7. no player shall act in an unsportsmanlike manner to try and distract the batter.....I would say it def falls under that category
 
Again I agree that it was a bush league move and the batter should have drilled him with the ball. But from all the comments I have read no one can say for sure this is against the rules and should have been ruled interference. There was no real obstruction to the batter and to me it would be no more distracting than a pitcher yelling and running around after a pitch. All of which have occurred and been allowed. Was watching another game and the shortstop ran in to pitcher yelling about his contact coming out and as the batter watched that the pitcher delivered the ball.....strike 3, also read about a pitcher yelling in to the ump that the ball was illegal then delivering a pitch......strike 3. To me these would be more distracting than a glove behind the ball. Just curious as to what kind of ridiculous crap you can get away with.

yep seen all this happen,the throwing of the glove has been around for ages.it goes with the juking and all the other stuff the dancing clown does on the mound in utrip.whats to stop the pitcher from running to one side after he pitches,all he is doing is covering a hole.i say if your that easily distracted,don't play.
 

hoosier419

Starting Player
i dont get it either. the pitch is coming UNDERHAND all the pumping and dancing and trick throws have never really bothered me. we have a couple of guys who walk the box and some times the pumping gets to them but overall i feel like the pitch is still coming you have all day to see it and hit it. just sucked getting bounced from a tourney because of this. especially now that i know it was legal. oh well live and learn.
 
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