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| SOFTBALL LINKS |
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NCAA 10 Second Rule
by Dave
Thursday, May 31, 2007
If you're watching the NCAA tournament on ESPN - probably the best softball you'll see this year although it's better live than on TV, you can't have missed the relatively high number of 10 second rule calls. I admit to having never paid attention to this rule before this year. A few weeks ago it came to my attention as I watched it called against Tennessee's Monica Abbott. In the first couple of games I've watched so far, I think I've seen it called 3 times. Once it resulted in a walk. [; I don't actually care much for the rule but I figure I better at least try to gain an understanding.
I may not have heard her correctly but Michele Smith briefly discussed the 10 second rule. She said something about the pitcher having five seconds to throw the pitch. That didn't sound like a "ten second rule" to me. Then Michele Smith's co-announcer referred to it as a "5 second rule." That kind of confused me so I looked the thing up.
The NCAA rulebook is online here: NCAA 2007 Rules and Interpretations so you can read it for yourself. The relevant section is indeed entitled the 10 second rule." The rule reads as follows:
"Time Allowed Between Pitches
Section 18. The pitcher must be on the pitcher's plate and the batter in the batter's box within 10 seconds after the pitcher receives the ball or after the umpire calls, "Play ball." After both the pitcher and batter are in position, the pitcher has five seconds to begin her pitching motion.
Effect - If five seconds have elapsed and the pitcher has not yet pitched, an additional ball shall be awarded to the batter. If two minutes have elapsed and the pitcher has not yet pitched, a forfeited game shall be declared by the umpire crew in favor of the team at bat.
Exception: Intentionally violating the rule in order to walk the batter without pitching shall not result in a ball being awarded to the batter, but each runner shall advance one base without liability to be put out. On the first offense, the umpire shall issue a warning to the offending player. On the second offense, the offending player shall be ejected from the game."
There are rules relating to the batter's part of the obligation to be ready within ten seconds. And there are, of course, penalties. You can check those out for yourself on the NCAA's site.
The rulebook says in its points of emphasis:
"The 10-second pitching rule, which was amended in 2006, was often misunderstood last season so it is included in this point of emphasis even though there is no change for 2007. The amended rule specifies that the pitcher and the batter are both responsible to be in position 10 seconds after the pitcher receives the ball (in the pitching circle) from the catcher. Once all players are in position - whether that is four seconds or seven seconds later, or 10 seconds later - the pitcher have five more seconds to start the pitching motion.
An often-mentioned complaint to the committee was that the pitcher's delivery time was reduced by this change. This is not true. Under the previous rule, the pitcher had 10 seconds from the time pitcher received the ball from the catcher to start her motion. Now she has 10 seconds to be in position after receiving the ball and another five to start the pitching motion. In essence, she has been given more time to deliver the pitch.
Another often-mentioned complaint was that the change was made to placate television interests. This is also not true. The rule was amended primarily because the committee wanted to set a clear, enforceable standard of not only the pitcher's time requirement, but also to establish one for the batter. It was often observed that a pitcher who legally used the entirety of her time to deliver the pitch was hampered by the movement of the batter at the last second. The cat-and-mouse games were undesirable and unnecessary, and this change was also intended to eliminate them. It is the committee's intention to annually review published game times and listen to coaches', student-athletes' and umpires' opinions on the flow of the game to monitor the effect of this change. If you have an opinion or suggestion, please contact a committee member so your thoughts are brought forward at the summer committee meeting."
I can certainly understand the desire to avoid that stupid game where the pitcher waits until the batter is uncomfortably stiff in the box or the batter rerquests time and steps out right before the pitch is thrown. This kind of stuff is fitting for major league baseball where the games take three plus hours and there is more "show" than "big" being fed the fan. But in a sport like ours, I'm glad this kind of bush league stuff is prohibited.
That being said, I do have a problem with the number of times I have seen it called and the effect it has had on several games. In this sport where 1-0 is not unusual - certainly not as unusual as it is in baseball - I think we need to think about the frequency with which penalties are called. The game of professional football has been altered to a point at which it has become as boring as the worst parts of Court TV because the officials feel they have to stop play and recite the rulebook every couple of plays. It's no longer a sport. It is now moments of action between legal lectures.
Softball is a fast moving game which generally is completed in under 2 hours. It is fairly common for a game to be over in an hour and a half. One walk, one hit, one steal, one run can determine the outcome of a contest. I do think sometimes pitchers or batters stall and I would like it to stop. It isn't enough to have a non-specific stalling rule. We do need some sort of finite time limit but I'm not sure 5 seconds is enough.
Also, in the broadcasts I saw, it was noted that several coaches were asked about the rule and replied something like, "I don't understand it, if you do, please explain it to me." I think that may be a little disingenuous but it does speak to the issue of sports governing bodies making absolutely sure that participants at all levels fully understand the rules. usually with something as potentially impactful as this, the overseeing body makes a concerted effort to discuss the change or more aggressive application of the rule during the preseason and then the thing is applied aggressively early on. That way, long before a championship tournament is played, everyone knows about it, fully understands how it will be applied and the thing doesn't have much of an impact. For example, recently the NCAA decided that in basketball, the act of calling timeout when a player was in the air, going out of bounds, had been abused so they changed the rule. There was tons of discussion and officials applied it vigorously during the early part of the season. By the time the tournament came around, no player was ever seen trying to call time out while jumping or falling out of bounds.
In conclusion, I now not only think I understand the "ten second rule" but also I understand the motivation. Coaches should have been aware of this but I suspect more could have been done to educate them and the players. This rule, even if it didn't change this year, was far more vigorously and frequently applied. Unfortunately, vfrom what I have seen, it was applied more late in the season than it was earlier and players continue to fall victim to it even at the highest levels. There's something wrong with that and I hope the situation improves next year. I don't enjoy games dominated by seemingly insignificant rules and the officials employed to enforce them.Labels: rules
 
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