Pitching Rules

What are all these lines for?


When one sees a softball pitching mound at the beginning of a game one will notice two white lines on either side of the mound.




Photo by POLINA YAMSHCHIKOV, ColumbiaMissourian.com


These lines represent where a pitcher can step when she is in her pitching motion. If a pitcher steps outside of these lines an umpire will call an illegal pitch. The consequence of getting an illegal pitch called on you is a ball on the batter and if there is a runner on they get to move to the next base. This rule has become quite controversial recently because they have been strictly enforcing it. There have been many instances where it has been a tied game and the winning run will be standing on third base. At this point if an illegal pitch is thrown the runner on third gets granted home and if that team is the home team the game can be over and they can win the game simply because the pitcher from the opposing team threw an illegal pitch.