Is this pitch legal

Question
Can a pitcher once she presents the ball and both feet are on the plate take a step back with one of her feet(the space is about 2 feet from the plate where she plants her foot} before continuing her forward motion.When she does her forward motion this foot does not touch the plate again. When she steps over the plate is the time she starts her pitch, she does not throw a windmill. The hole time she is doing the back step the ball is hidden in the glove and she lifts it above her head. The girls batting had a really hard time because they could not time their swings.This is for Little League 11/12 year olds

Answer
Jody,

In LL when the pitcher steps on the pitchers plate the hands must be separated and the ball can be in either hand.  To start the pitch the hand and the glove must come together.  Again it does not matter if the ball is in the hand or the glove.  The pitcher can take a step backwards with their stride foot as long as the step back starts before the hands come together.

If her hands never come together you have an illegal pitch.  If the hands come together prior the the pitcher taking a step back in your scenario, it sounds like a legal pitch.

Tell your girls to focus on the hip where the ball will be released and to never watch the windup regardless of the pitching style.  This will give them a consistent reference point to time their swings.  It will also give them a little more time to see the ball.  If the batter watches the windup and then the release they don't visually pick up the ball as soon as they do watching it off the girls hip.

Tom