Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Jul 19 08:14:00 2001

Hello,
> > > >
> > > > I teach hitting for a girls fastpitch softball team. One of the problems we have is getting enough batting practice with live pitching. We don't want to wear out our pitchers in batting practice. But, they are the only ones who can pitch underhand with any speed and get the ball over the plate enought for a good practice session.
> > > >
> > > > But, there are a few people, including myself, who can throw strikes over hand. Do you think that pitching a softball over hand for batting pracice is good practice for softball hitters.
> > > >
> > > > I have been reluctant to try it. People tell me it will mess the girls up because they have to look at different place to pick up the ball. I am not I really accept this as a real problem.
> > > >
> > > > Others say that the overhand pitch is tacking down while the underhand pitch is tracking up and that this will affect the hitters percpective. This sounds like it could be a proplem but I dont know.
> > > >
> > > > What do you think?
> > > >
> > > > If you don't think it will work, why not?
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> > > > F J
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > FJ-
> > >
> > > There's no substitute for live pitching.If you don't have enough pitchers,get closer and have coaches or others throw from behind a screen.You can usually get enough accuracy and the shorter distance is the equivalent of lots of velocity.
> >
> > Tom,
> >
> > Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that throwing overhand is not a good way to pratice for for softball? I am not sure I understand what you are saying.
> >
> > F P
>
> Im not one of the experts on the board but I do have some thoughts on this as I also coach fastpitch and had coached baseball for years..
> Hitting is hitting .. see the ball .. hit the ball ...Hand eye cordination.. The mechanics are the same and as for tracking the ball differently... If your using both , I have found no problem with the girls adjusting .. I use baseballs , whiffle balls , golf ball size whiffles as well as the regulation size balls. And my girls are a team of good hitters.
> I play fastpitch as well as baseball, and I have no problem adjusting, other than the fastpitch softball does get in their faster than a baseball when you hit 40 yrs old. Those old pitchers can still fire a softball underhanded.
>
> Im sure their is no great substitute for pitching to them from the same release point they would be facing .. But if its not enough batting practice or substituting baseballs now and then ... Ill take the latter ... I think it has helped my girls ... And I wont argue with success.
>
> (ps) Tennis balls work well , batting as well as outfield practice. And do also use baseballs during fielding... It works for us...

FJ-
Sorry for not being clear.I think it is important to throw as much as possible live with the underhand release point.You are building hand eye coordination(internal inertial frame of reference)that will most likely last a lifetime and is hard to change.I speculate that some major leaguers can change this frame of reference through prolonged daily work,but it isn't easy.Picking up the ball off the hip and anticipating where it is going to be in a couple of tenths of a second is difficult.Just changing from looking at overhand motion to underhand is challenging,even if you adjust your overhand arm slot to mimic the underhand release point.