10 year old softball pitch rules

Question
Hi Jesse,  I am a coach for a SO CAL minor 10 and under little league softball team. My daughter who is a 1st year pitcher has pitched  15 games in the regular season and tonight was our 1st playoff game.  Durning her 2nd inning of pitching tonigh, the umpire calls time and points at my my 10 year old daughter and says that she has pitched an illegal pitch.  He explains that she is bending her arm rather than throwing straight.  durning the entire year not one other umpire has determined that she is throwing illegally.  He call it a ball and then proceeds to do this for the next 3 times, until we remove her from pitching.

My question is can you in detail explain what is wrong with the bending of the arm and how is that illegal?  Do you think this should be called in a minor game? Is this a sitution for a warning 1st considering the teams age?

My daughter was very upset and at this young age i want ther to have the confidence of pitching rather than feeling  nervious about an over zealious umpire trying to make a point and take over a game.

Lastly i was discussing the call with the umpire after the game had ended and his final reation was to threaten me with "throw me out"  The game was over and although I am a coach I was asking him about the circumstances as a parent
Can he throw me out after the game has ended?

Thanks Ron

Answer
Hello Ron,

This question was sent to the question pool so I'll try to help from a coaching view point.  Bending the arm IS NOT illegal.  As long as the ball passes below the waist and wrist is not outside the elbow on release, there is no penalty for bending the arm.  If bending her arm is resulting in her wrist being outside the elbow, then his call was correct.  No offense to Mark or Jesse, but just as we have a few bad coaches there are also a few bad umpires in that profession.  I've had some very belligerent ones vocally threaten me with throwing me out while I was calmly questioning him about a ruling.  As long as your on what is considered the playing field (including dugout and warm up area) he has jurisdiction.