One statement I continually hear is “Oh, fast pitch softball pitching is not that hard.” A lot of people I know do not seem to understand all the hard work that goes into pitching. If they did, they would understand that fast pitch pitching is not as easy as it seems. I have been pitching for six years, so pitching is my life. It really is thrilling for someone who has nerves of steel and knows that the game rests in their hands, literally. I plan on explaining the mechanics, the mentality, and the pitches a pitcher must have in order to excel in the world of fast pitch pitching. The mechanics to fast pitch softball can be difficult to learn and can take years of practice. To first pitch a softball, one must stand on the pitching rubber. …show more content…
A fastball is an easy, basic pitch to learn and perform. One must grip the ball with four fingers on the top of the C seam. Also, this pitch is released by the hip. The next pitch that is vital to a pitcher is the changeup. A changeup, also known as an off-speed pitch, is a pitch that is ten to fifteen miles per hour slower than a fastball. There are many ways that someone could throw a changeup. The different ways include: knuckle, u-shape, and flip. I throw the knuckle ball, which is the hardest one to learn. A knuckle changeup has no spin on it and it “falls off a table” and dies into the ground if somebody hits it. The third pitch most people learn is the screwball. A screwball drives into the handle of a right handed batter. This in turn makes the batter hit a soft grounder to the short stop or third base. In order to throw a screwball, one must put their index finger on the top of the seam of the C and when the hand gets next to the hip the pitcher has to “twist the doorknob.” The next pitch, and my favorite, is the curveball. It took me a little while to master the pitch and learn to execute this pitch correctly. To throw this pitch, one must grip the softball like a fastball but with the C seam flipped so it is a backwards C. Also the pitcher has to move their hand in a counterclockwise direction. A curve ball breaks away from a right-handed batter and it is used many
Then I will explain how tough it is to be drafted and after that even play. Although some people think baseball is easy. Baseball is the toughest sport. A lot of people watching from the stands or Television see hitting a baseball to be really easy, but it gets much more tough when you step into the box.
Jezek (2006) believes that “throwing a baseball from a distance of 50-60 feet at a target only 18 inches wide requires precise skill. It’s far more difficult than the typical practice of throwing
The fastball is used to surprise the hitter with a fast pitch. The pitcher must put backspin on the ball in order for the pitch to work correctly. There are two ways a pitcher grips a fastball, the
No one can just pick up a bat and be good at baseball; in other sports including: football, basketball, or soccer, it is effortless to pick up the sport and start playing it. One of the main rules of baseball is that there is no play clock. The so called "play clock" only sets the pace of the game. In theory one game of baseball can not last any longer than nine hours. The official rule book of the MLB (Major League Baseball) quotes, "A modified version of Rule 8.04, which discourages unnecessary delays by the pitcher, shall apply.
The first reason softball is harder than baseball is because of hitting. Most college softball pitchers pitch the ball up to 70 mph from 37 feet away, from that distance it takes the ball 0.35 seconds to cross the plate. Most MLB pitchers reach speeds of 100 mph from 60 feet away, from there it takes the baseball 0.38 seconds to cross the plate. The decision time for the batter in softball is only .025 seconds which is 55% less time than an MLB player. In baseball
In softball you will need gloves, bats, and balls. Also you need to have a uniform so people could know what team you are on. Even you need helmets so when someone throws the ball to you it won 't hit your face. Gloves are really important because when somebody hits the ball high you have to catch it so you can get them out. You need bats because you have to hit the ball, and you have to make a home run.
It’s no secret that sports are becoming more and more elite as the athletes that play them begin to utilize science to maximize their output. Baseball and softball are no exceptions to this phenomenon. As America’s pastime and two of the biggest college sports for each respective gender, ground is constantly being broken in order to discover new and improved techniques to put out the best players possible. One of the skills that has always been at forefront of refinement has been the swing; athletes want to hit balls faster, harder, and farther. In particular, the launch angle has become an increasingly popular topic of focus the the world of baseball and softball.
This count gives the batter the upper hand because he or she is ahead of the count. If the pitcher throws a strike instead of a ball, the pitcher has the upper hand. I take what I've learned from baseball and incorporate it into the real world because it helps me become the person I am today. For example, watching curveballs relates to me not being really involved in high school. Looking back at my past years of high school, I can't say that I swung at that curveball.
The first major difference is what you use to play the game. In baseball you play with a small white ball with 108 red seams. In softball you play with a larger yellow ball with 88 red seams. The bat you use will also differ depending on the sport you play. If you are playing baseball you will have a bat with a big barrel, sometimes the bat with also be wood instead of metal.
All you do is bat and ground the ball and through it to a person. You do have to run a lot. But compared to the rest of the rest of the sports baseball is the most laid back. I remember one game where I played third base and our team was so good no one got to third base so I just got to stand there and look pretty!
There are hundreds of types of off-speed pitches. In order to understand how a baseball moves and spins, the fastball, curveball, and changeup have to be analyzed. The first pitch that will be explained is the most basic pitch in baseball, the fastball. The two seam fastball is usually thrown about 90 miles per hour (MPH) by major leaguers.
Softball: Then and Now This sport has been around for almost 130 years, and is played by many all over the world. Yes, we are talking about softball. Softball was created in 1887, but compared to now, it is very different with many comparisons. Today, softball is played with a 11, or 12 inch ball, the bases are set between 50 and 60 feet apart, and you pitch from 35 and 43 feet away from home plate.
We then watch carefully the opposing team’s pitcher as she warms up. As a lead off hitter, it is my job to do anything possible to get on base. By working the count I am frisking with the pitcher to get into her head. I then get exactly what I want, a pitch that could change the outcome of the entire game. Once I take a swing at the perfect pitch you can hear the crack of the bat forcefully pushing the ball to get a base hit.
However, the style of pitching between the two sports is one of the most different aspects of baseball and softball. In baseball, the pitching is over handed, just as the rest of the defensive players throw. In contrast, softball pitching is under handed, which contains a windup in a
While there are other aspects of softball that would also need to be further examined and understood by someone with no prior knowledge of the sport, hopefully one can get a general idea of how the game is played from the insight on how the bases, infield, and outfield function in the information provided above. The bases, along with the defensive positions in the infield and outfield, are key components to the game of