Verbal Obstruction?

Question
Dr. Mark,  
I really enjoyed your response to the pitcher抯 verbal obstruction asked by a previous questioner, as I feel strongly along the same lines, and I used it as a foundation for my position on the topic, being a new coach to ASA softball.  That being stated, I used your argument during a weekend U12 ASA tournament without any success.  The opposing pitcher, during her wind-up would yell 揾ut?and as the ball was crossing the play she would yell 揾et?(or something along those lines).  I can understand if there was some physiological reason, as in her diaphragm was being compressed, expelling air at her release point, but the points at which she was vocalizing weren抰 physically demanding.
I tried on a couple of different occasions to get the plate umpire to do something about the vocalizations.  The first was after our first batter asked why she was making those sounds and the second was when I realized that she wasn抰 doing it during her warm-up pitches, which indicated to me that it wasn抰 an integral part of her pitch.
The plate umpire simply stated that there wasn抰 anything wrong with what she was doing, as other teams, as the pitcher was delivering the ball, would all slap their gloves on their legs.  I was starting to dig a hole with this umpire so I didn抰 want to tell him that I didn抰 agree with his logic, as I didn抰 believe that that particular move was very sportsman like either.
The real question is this?should I just let this particular topic go and not sweat it, or should I continue to raise the topic each time it occurs?  In baseball, we would refer to these antics as 揵ush league? but I抦 not sure about the softball perspective.  I was hoping that you would expand upon your prior comments on the topic so that I can be better prepared should this situation arise again.

Thanks,

Dave


Answer
Hi Dave,

This would not be obstruction.

It would have to be loud enough and distracting enough (as the ball approaches the strike zone area) that I felt the batter was being put at a real disadvantage.  ie I would not let a catcher emit a howling scream as the ball enters the zone area.

If so I'm going to control the game as it's my job to have a level playing field.  There are a number of ways to handle it but we can't use obstruction.

If you feel your batter is being put at a significant disadvantage, keep chatting with the umpires.  Remember I might not like certain behaviors but they must meet a certain level and I might not agree they meet it.

mark