I have observed this twice this season & have not found any related posts (yet) about it. It happened at high school game & then again at tournament game, only not as drastic yet definetly distracted & affected pitchers both times. Team 1 pitcher is cruising through 4 innings, Team 2 replaces pitcher & as he warms up at the beginning of inning, starts digging landing hole for landing foot on mound. He continues to redesign the mound after every warmup pitch. I'm not convinced it was obvious, but when Team 1 pitcher returned to warm up, he was somewhat upset with the huge hole that he kept falling in. Team 1 coaches noticed his trouble & conjured up the tamper & hand sprinkler (home team) & worked to fill hole back to what team 1 pitcher was accustomed to. It delayed game at least 10 mins.Team 1 pitcher continued to cruise. Next inning Team 2 pitcher redug hole during warmup (more slowly this time, but same result after inning). Team 1 pitcher again struggled during warmup & as ground crew/coach attempted to repair it again, umpire denied them, and pitcher 1 continued to pitch but lost velocity & control as he struggled to land properly, he was replaced and team 1 went on to win anyway. I guess it's all up to the umpires discretion on this or is there specific language in the rule book? It didn't seem right to me.
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