Posted by: Fastpitch Mom (reneelperkins@yahoo.com) on Sun Mar 27 20:03:33 2011

> I am very uncomfortable with all the softball hitting coaches
telling my daughter to move all the way to the front of the box. All
this does is reduce reaction time (40 ft)which I feel is a very
precious commodity (the more the better). In fact I've done some basic
calculations (95mph @ 60 ft = 63.3mph @ 40ft)and of course we know how
difficult it is to hit 95mph, but if we move them even closer to the
pitcher (38 ft) it gets to the 100mph (equivalent) and how many people
can effectively hit that. Is there something I'm missing here?
> >
> > There are several things you are missing, but not your fault.
> > First, girls fastpitch softball is full of ridiculous concepts,
strategies and techniques that are foolish but institutionalized.
> > Apparently the art of fastpitch pitching is pretty evolved.
Consequently pitchers dominate. Consequently all sorts of strange
distortions grow out of the imbalance of pitcher and hitter.
> > Since pitching dominates hitting, hitting coaches try strange,
wrong things in endless variations.
> > - Since the pitch arrives too soon, move the batter up in the box
(that takes away the decision about breaking balls, fastballs,
rises,etc. even though a softball breaks less than a baseball)
> > - turn rightys into lefties until 2 strikes, and have them slap
instead of hit, esp. if they are fast. In other words, we can't hit
righty so lets run fast and hope for an error.
> > - hit the ball on the ground even though the infield is standing
on top of the hitter waiting for a ball on the ground. go figure???
> > - don't hit like in baseball (where batters do hit 90 mph
fastballs), do less effective things like two-piece swings with wrist
snapping instead of rotational mechanics
> > - there are more but let it suffice that if you discuss this with
fastpitch people they will tell you to 'stop making sense' in some
form or another.
> >
> > by the way, while 95mph @ 60 ft = 63.3mph @ 40ft in terms of
flight of ball, they are difinitely not the same. We did the same
calcs for 46' vs 60'6" (small to big field in baseball). Found that
the 60 mph equivalent of a 40 mph LL pitch was still going 60 mph when
it went by the batter. Ball appeared to speed up at the end
(illusion). you have more time to get ready for that 60 mph pitch, but
its still going that fast.
> > In fastpitch, you have less time to read the pitch but it is still
going 63.3 mph at homeplate, not 95.
> > BTW, who throws 60+mph? our HS leagues have almost nobody that
fast in MA. Maybe a few on top travel teams. 50's is pretty good.
> > The Olympic team pitchers are high 60s, sometimes 70. D1 Colleges
are in the 60s.

My daughter who is 11 yrs old and in 4th grade just pitched a 51 mph
fastpitch 3 weeks ago. She was radar-ed by Rick Baker who's daughter
is Brooke Baker. They are 2 of the best pitching coaches out of all
the big 10 colleges in Indiana..Brooke pitched for Purdue Lafayette
College. Very excited to see what mt daughter pitches by High School.
Brooke pitches 70mph. She was suppose to play for the Chicago Bandits
but started her own pitching school instead.
> >
> > My daughter, 17, HS junior, has been hitting rotationally for
several years despite all the 'fastpitch swing' coaches she has had.
> > Last year, 2nd coference all star, 2nd in BA (.408). This year, 4
for 11 so far with 4 huge bombs (200+ feet). And two were caught by CF
playing deep. She outhits everyone on every team they play.
> > And she really isn't miss jock. Her game sense is at times
lacking. She never knows what she hits - location or spin. Just see
ball, crush ball.
> > Love that swing, the coaches say, but if you snapped your wrists,
you'd be better.... and blah, blah, blah
> > Jack - you did a swing review of Jodie over a year ago. She is
progressing and your input made a difference. 70+ mph batspeed on dry
swings. I'd like to get it up to 80 for next year if she'll work hard
enough at it. Thanks.
> >
> > I agree with you about some of the odd techniques that have
developed in softball. I'm convinced (batspeed)is the way to go
because the best hitters use these hitting principles. It is hard for
me to convince travel ball coaches that they should be doing something
different, because they have had such success in the past (national
championships). I'm a proponent of constantly trying to improve and
batspeed makes sense to me; I wish others would be more open to these
principles.
>
> Anyway I was trying to make a point of reaction time because if I
pitched a ball at 90mph from 40 ft, it would be MUCH more difficult to
hit than from 60ft. When I was playing you moved back farther in the
box against the hard throwers and yes it did help. Now my theory on
this was there was a certain amount of reaction time from batting
against the average speed pitchers, that you were making adjustments
for by moving back on the harder throwers.
>
> To compound matters when you move closer to the pitcher in baseball
1 ft = 1.66% of the total distance in softball 1 ft = 2.5%, in other
words why do I want to give any of my reaction time back to the
pitcher? By the way in S. California we have kids on travel teams that
throw in the 60's so the window of time is pretty short.
>
> By the way I agree with you that softball people have widely
exagerated claims on how much a softball can break in only 40 ft. I've
caught some of the best softball pitchers (before games) and their
pitches don't break anywhere near as far as the baseball pitchers from
60 ft. But my real point is do we just think girls can't hit the
breaking pitch, even if it breaks less, are they just unable to do
this? That is why everyone wants them to move up in the box. I just
don't agree with them, but I have nothing to prove my point. And I
think this is one of the reasons there is much less scoring in
softball.
>
> P.S. If the closer is better theory in softball works, why did we
move the mound to 43 ft in college, wouldn't this make it harder to
hit since the ball will move more and we wouldn't want that.
>
> >
> >