Their coaches had primed the pump on this one. I wouldn’t doubt they even shared video with the umping crew from the previous game Emma pitched. He called the very first pitch illegal. He had to be looking for it. Unfortunately Emma was on and retired the batters she faced. We would have been headed to the bottom of the 7th with a 2 run lead. I realize it’s a rule that should have been changed last year but the umpire still has to interpret just how far off the ground the foot is to make the call. Very few actually drag the foot hard on the ground anymore. Back in the day you would wear the shoe toe out quickly if you didn’t wear a guard. Hopefully this fiasco today will force the NCAA to act on the rule change next year. As for Emma she’ll need to work on driving that toe down and no doubt iti could effect her performance in the short term.