Lady Shocks v Creighton

[flyingMoose]

So its not that she's getting kicked out of games, just that CU can't take the penalty and she can't seem to overcome the motion that's making her throw illegal pitches?

Correct.

She has been dominating in league play for 3 years.....is this partially because she was throwing "illegal" pitches that just weren't being called?

This is always hard to say because she may be equally effective if she can correct the problem. But understand that this can be a difficult problem to correct because pitchers have years and years of muscle memory to overcome. I guess I would answer with an unequivocal "maybe" regarding her dominance.

Is this going on all over the country, where some, if not a majority, of the dominant pitchers are having to rework their mechanics to get legal, or is Tara more of an isolated instance?

I don't think Tara is an isolated instance by any means, but I also suspect that very few of the "national class" pitchers were illegal. The next level down is where many of the pitchers affected by the emphasis on the rule are. Sorry for the fuzzy pitcher classification.

Like '72, I have been poking around for some instructional videos regarding illegal pitches, but I have yet to find any. Will keep looking though.

[flyingMoose]

1972Shocker - If she is indeed in violation, tape of the games prove it, it would seem unfair to those who have not benefited from the call. The pitcher in softball is huge. I would compare this to some referees repeatedly not calling double dribble on a certain player in basketball or a certain baseball pitcher going to the mouth on the rubber and some games, not being called for it.

Assuming they have the games on tape and they show she is legal then CU no doubt has filed a grievance with the MVC office. If she is OK, then word will no doubt be communicated to the league's umps.

If she is, in fact, making an illegal move you would expect word of that to get around and the opposing coach not doubt will be reminding the umps of that.

Perhaps it is just as simple as this being made a point of interest this year and she is being called for something she has consistently gotten away with over her 1st 3 years in college.

The MVC has a Umpire Coordinator who is Sally Walker from Illinois. She has umpired in multiple WCWS, including last year's. I am sure umpires are communicating with her and her with them regarding illegal pitch issues. The curious part is the apparent lack of illegal pitch calls against Tara in the Indiana State series and the "veritable plethora" of calls in subsequent series.

I think the point about umpire emphasis this year affecting her is spot on.

[1972Shocker]

Oltman had 11 illegal pitches against SIU which exceeded her total for her previous 3 years.

She is attemting to make changes, but as 'Moose said she has a lot of muscle memory to overcome.

Here is an article in the Omaha newspaper about Tara:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100401/BLUEJAYS/100409940/1112#creighton-s-oltman-works-on-changes

Note it refers to the new directives by the NCAA. Her Coach would not disclose to the paper what she is doing to cause the IP calls.

I have never seen Oltman pitch put in looking at a photo in the CU softball media guide (page 14) my guess is she is being called for a crow-hop (replant of her drive foot).

[flyingMoose]

Does this help?

http://suip.arbitersports.com/FRONT/104484/video/player/996

Some of these are easy to see in slo-mo, but not so easy to see at real-time speed.

[1972Shocker]

Here is the CU softball media guide:

http://www.gocreighton.com//pdf8/670281.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=1000

Look at the picture on page 14 of the pdf (page 13 of the guide).

Looking at the position of her feet and body it does look like she is just about to re-plant her drive foot. She might be doing a leap and a replant. Hard to say from a still photo, but somebody has picked up on something and the umps have been made aware of it.

[1972Shocker]

Does this help?

http://suip.arbitersports.com/FRONT/104484/video/player/996

Some of these are easy to see in slo-mo, but not so easy to see at real-time speed.

Thanks 'Moose. Looks like those were all Leap violations except the last one which was a Leap, a Replant and a Side-Step (but just 1 illegal pitch).

The leap violation is probably the most common I would think.

[1972Shocker]

Oltman pitched 80% of CU's innings last year. So the rely on her arm more than just a little bit.

[flyingMoose]

Here is the CU softball media guide:

http://www.gocreighton.com//pdf8/670281.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=1000

Look at the picture on page 14 of the pdf (page 13 of the guide).

Looking at the position of her feet and body it does look like she is just about to re-plant her drive foot.

I agree completely - the bent leg looks like a second push is coming, or at least a second "point of stability" is being established, illegal in either case.

One part of me feels badly for Tara - no umpire or coach has pointed out the problem before - but not badly for the team, since Coach Vigness could have recognized and corrected the problem long ago. But if the issue is "point of stability" and not an actual second push, I can see how this might have never been called before the new emphasis by NCAA umpires. It is more esoteric than a pitcher who is clearly leaping - but still not within the rules.

[1972Shocker]

Here is the CU softball media guide:

http://www.gocreighton.com//pdf8/670281.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=1000

Look at the picture on page 14 of the pdf (page 13 of the guide).

Looking at the position of her feet and body it does look like she is just about to re-plant her drive foot.

I agree completely - the bent leg looks like a second push is coming, or at least a second "point of stability" is being established, illegal in either case.

One part of me feels badly for Tara - no umpire or coach has pointed out the problem before - but not badly for the team, since Coach Vigness could have recognized and corrected the problem long ago. But if the issue is "point of stability" and not an actual second push, I can see how this might have never been called before the new emphasis by NCAA umpires. It is more esoteric than a pitcher who is clearly leaping - but still not within the rules.

Two things about Tara from the still photo in the media guide. the bent leg and postion of the foot + notice how her upper body is still leaning back. Looks like it would be hard to complete without replanting or stabilizing. Again very difficult to tell from a still photo. Whether are not she goes airborne to get to this position is also impossible to tell.

I too feel a little bad for Tara for this to happen at this point in her career even if she does play for CU. I don't doubt that she is a very nice young lady.

[flyingMoose]

Wow!! Twenty-three replies and 173 views at this point, and the games have not even been played. :)

[1972Shocker]

Games?

:D

[Quick Pitch]

The illegal pitch has become a point of imphasis within the last month. There were over 30 illegal pitches called in the Michigan game last week. Arizona had so many called that coach Candrea got kicked out of the game in the 1st inning. So it is not just Tara Oltman.
I once saw pictures of Mowat, Osterman, and several more of the top pitchers af all time in mid-pitch and every one of them were extremely illegal. Osterman was actually 6-8 inches off the ground.
Some of the illegal pitches are being called for stepping outside of the rubber (the 2 chalk lines the extend from each side of the rubber.) Mowat (Arizona) is the reason they started putting th echalk lines there because she would step towards 1st base to throw a screw ball.
If you took a slow motion video of every top level pitcher you would find that most of the top level pitchers are illegal.

[1972Shocker]

The rules are the rules and have been for a long time. The question is why are they finally deciding to emphasize them.

Are they trying to reduce the dominance of the ptichers and make hitting a bigger part of the game?

[flyingMoose]

The rules or the rules and have been for a long time. The question is why are they finally deciding to emphasize them.

Are they trying to reduce the dominance of the ptichers and make hitting a bigger part of the game?

Similar to MLB in the past and NCAA Baseball, there is an effort on the part of NCAA Softball to make the umpiring uniform across the country. In all of those organizations, this is most evident in attempts to make the strike zone being called consistent with the rules.

In NCAA softball there is now this additional emphasis this year in making rulings about illegal pitches consistent across the country - what is seen as a legal pitch in one part of the country should be seen as legal in all parts of the country and the same for illegal pitches.

As might be expected, getting umpires across the country on the same page will be a work-in-progress. Consequently in the middle of the season, some UA pitcher or a Tara Oltman is now illegal when she was "legal" earlier in the season.

So I think this is really just an effort to apply the rules that were always there and to educate umpires about what to look for.

[1972Shocker]

Tara Oltman is in the circle for CU and pitched a 1-2-3 1st inning with no apparent IP issues.