pitchers foot off side of rubber

Question
asa softball -

 ?  is     does the pitcher have to have both feet on the rubber WITHIN the 24 inch plate on release ?
   can the pitcher have 1 foot outside the 24 inch plate but touching the side of the plate  ?   1/2 foot on plate  1/2 foot off but touching dirt on side  

 i live in upstate ny  albany area

is there a link to this rule ?
i can not find it in the rule book
   rule book says in preliminaries both feet must be WITHIN
but rule book doesnt make any mention during delivery

 thankyou for your help

Answer
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your questions.  I was actually glad to see that they are about pitching, ASA Rule 6, as I needed to knock some rust off that part of my game!

1) ? is does the pitcher have to have both feet on the rubber WITHIN the 24 inch plate on release.
A: Yes, and I hope you don't mind if I paraphrase your Q in my A, the pitcher has to have both feet within the 24" length of the pitcher's plate on release.

2) ? can the pitcher have 1 foot outside the 24 inch plate but touching the side of the plate
A: Well, and I say this politely Mark, the question in itself is an oxymoron.  No, the pitcher cannot have one foot outside the 24" length of the pitcher's plate, but yes, the pitcher can have one foot touching the side of the plate.  Regarding the latter, look at 6-1-A: "When taking the pitching position in contact with the pitcher's plate...."  And at 6-1-C-2: "The pitcher shall take a position with both feet in contact with the pitcher's plate."  And at 6-1-E-2: "Both feet must remain in contact with the pitcher's plate...."  And at 6-3-I: "...provided contact is maintained with the plate."  Nowhere does Rule 6 say that keeping a foot against the side of the plate isn't a valid way of maintaining contact with it.  If I had my way, though, Rule 6 would be just a few words longer and specifically address whether or not touching the side of the pitching plate is considered to be staying within its 24" length!  

3) ? 1/2 foot on plate 1/2 foot off but touching dirt on side
A: Yes.

4) is there a link to this rule ?
A: I can provide you with one link.  It's from ASA's National web site, www.asasoftball.com: http://downloads.asasoftball.com/umpires/pdf/2011FPvsSPruleDifferences.pdf  As well, you can dredge up a world of information by hammering your favorite search engine with keywords such as ASA, pitching, Rule 6, legal, illegal, and the like.

5) i can not find it in the rule book
rule book says in preliminaries both feet must be WITHIN
but rule book doesnt make any mention during delivery
A: I was able to find mention of the 24" rule during delivery, in Rule 6-3-I, LEGAL DELIVERY: "The step must be forward and toward the batter within the 24-length of the pitcher's plate."

Mark, you're welcome for the help.  I hope that all of your questions were adequately addressed.

Scott Kelly