Pitching - Rosin, chalk, dirt...
My daughter has been playing on garden variety clay fields her entire softball career. As a varsity player this year she went to her first tournament on a new 100% turf field. When she went to the pitcher's circle, the ump tossed her a brand new ball. Her first few pitches were awful because her fingers were slipping off the seams. The new ball had a tiny amount of an oily film in the surface. I've been reading the rules on the use of powered rosin vs rock rosin vs chalk, and whether the pitcher has to wipe hands off or not.
I read that in major league baseball, the ump is supposed to rub the ball with a special clay mud to remove any factory film. Not so with softball.
The one thing sticking in my brain is that if a pitcher on a dirt field picks up a handful of the chalk used to outline the pitcher's circle, they have to wipe their hands off before pitching. However, if they rub their hands in the dirt, they don't have to wipe their hands because the dirt is not a foreign substance for the ball.
My question is... Can a pitcher on a turf field dust her hands with field clay dust and handle the ball without wiping her hands first, to condition the ball? I believe it would be legal if the game was on a clay field.