Pitching Time Limit

Question
At last night's game (girls major little league), my pitcher was taking a few seconds between some pitches to move dirt back into (and remove large rocks from) a huge hole in front of the pitcher's plate.  The hole and rocks were causing her shoe to stick, throwing her off balance.  After my pitcher struck out two batters in a row - who did not swing at the ball - the opposing coach approached the umpire and asked if she could make our pitcher stop taking time to fill dirt into the hole.  The  umpire then approached us and asked if we could make her stop.  We told the umpire that she had time to fix something that would prevent her from getting hurt.  Unfortunately our pitcher overheard the exchange, and started rushing all of her pitches after that - she's only been pitching for a couple of months and it pretty much ruined her night. I looked up the rule later and found that the pitcher has 20 seconds to release after receiving the ball or the umpire saying "play ball" - she was in no way taking that long before throwing.  In the future, I will point this out when approached by the umpire or other coach.  But what can I do to make sure that the hole stays filled in?  Can I call time out when its getting bad and fix it myself?  There's really no ground crew in our league and the field's usually not in very good condition.  Also, how can I get my pitcher to stop rushing her throw now?

Answer
Hi Melinda,

I was taught by one of my mentor's (now a hall of fame umpire) that "good umpires umpire when they need too"

In this case we have a safety issue and I don't see a need to "umpire" here. especially if she was under 20 sec.

If I were you I would fix it before the game and in the 1/2 inning when you play defense.  Maybe bring a rake with you to the game.

You might want to talk to Larry A on this forum for more tips on your pitcher but here's my "dumb umpire" suggestion.  She has to bring her hands together for at least 1 sec and not more than 10 sec.  Your the coach, tell her to count to 8 or 9 before she seperates her hands and begins the pitch.

Mark