Softball Pitches 101

Posted by Trish18

Wonder how Jennie Finch and Cat Osterman seem to defy physics with their pitches?  Here’s a quick guide to the most commonly thrown pitches.

Fastball
The fastball is the foundation pitch. It’s simple—throw it hard. Top softball pitchers throw their fastball around 70 miles per hour. That is roughly equivalent to a 100 mile per hour fastball in baseball. The idea is to throw a fastball with enough velocity to force the hitter into a late swing and cause them to foul it off or miss altogether. The grip maximizes wrist snap when the ball is released at the hip. Monica Abbott is a good example of someone who brings the heat with her fastball.

Riseball
The riseball is unique to fastpitch softball and widely considered the most difficult pitch to hit. It starts out in the strike zone and breaks just before reaching the plate—forcing the
 batter to pop up or miss it completely. Jennie Finch throws a dominant riseball.


Dropball
The drop works the exact opposite of a riseball. This pitch initially looks attractive to the hitter only to drop out of the stikezone just before reaching the plate. If the batter does make contact, the dropball commonly results in a ground out. Look to national team newcomer Jennie Ritter to throw this pitch masterfully.

   Curveball
The curveball, as with most breaking pitches, is meant to have enough movement to cause the batter to chase—often times well out of the strikezone. The curve moves away from the batter to the outside of the plate when thrown from a right-handed pitcher to a right-handed batter. This makes right-handed pull hitters especially susceptible to this pitch. Cat Osterman, a specialist at making batters chase her pitches out of the zone, has one of the nastiest curveballs around.


Change Up
The change-up is a deceptive off-speed pitch that appears like a fastball but travels roughly 15 miles per hour slower. It is primarily used to keep the batter off-balance. The motion and mechanics as similar to the fastball. Alicia Hollowell has a very successful change-up that keeps hitters guessing.

Thanks Trish18 for a great article!

-The Bulldog Team

Pitching, Easy As A-B-C

Submitted by Bulldog (AKA Brooke Steiner)

Brooke Steiner throwing a curve ball during the Cat Osterman Experience

I’ve been pitching for about 5 years now and am a pitcher for the Nebraska Nemesis 98s.  I've been a pitcher since I started playing fastpitch softball. Over the years my pitching coach (Jim Kraus) head coach (Beth Singleton) and camp coach (Lori Sippel) have elaborated and defined what I already knew about pitching and have taught me many things. I still go back to what my dad taught me in our back yard. He taught me that pitching is actually quite easy when you break it down. It’s actually as easy as learning your A-B-C’s and I will explain this a little later. I say it is easy, but trust me I don’t mean it at all like you’ll be a Jennie Finch or Cat Osterman over night. It takes patience, commitment and practice and I’m still working on it. My first year out when I was 6, we played U10s and we didn’t even win a game, well it at least seemed like it and to be honest I think we only won two the whole year. You might think that is not too bad and it might not be for an 8 or ten game season, but for a competitive team playing about 75 games in a year it makes for a long season.

My coaches, team mates and mom all stuck by me and believed in me and my dad reassured me that everything would change if I just stuck to it and kept on practicing. I never thought about quitting and losing didn’t matter to me or my family. Our team won “Class A” ASA State this past year and our power rating at a couple times during the year was ranked number one in the nation over 650 teams. We actually finished #2 on the season. So it’s pretty neat to see how far we’ve come. One of the main things he has taught me was to not worry about throwing a ball or getting hit off of. This is actually one of my strengths I’ve been told. So much so that , this is where my nickname Bulldog comes from. Our assistant coach (Kent Marshall) started calling me that way back when he also called me “Captain Inaino” but that name never stuck.

"I take my role as pitcher very seriousily.  The moment I step on the mound it's time to get to work"

My dad always told me, even from day one that if I threw a bad pitch or gave up a hit, to not worry about it., because it was just one pitch, and I had to look forward. There wasn’t anything I could do to change it. Getting frustrated and showing emotion would not do anything but give the batter the confidence she needed to get a hit off of me. He told me, before we even stepped out and on to the field for our first game that if the other team, coaches or fans were being loud to not worry about that either. Because that was just their way of telling me I was doing good. He said “The louder they get, the better your are doing”. So that’s what they get. They get the same face if they get struck out, lay down a bunt or hit a grand slam. It’s not my job to do anything other than what I know how to do or am asked to by my coaches. Which is to throw a pitch… With many different speeds and locations. Even though I am only 11 I still know how to throw several other pitches other than just a fastball straight down the middle of the plate. I have a fast ball, curve ball, off speed, screw ball , rise ball and my specialty the change up. These pitches all are basically just adjustments to the simple A-B-C foundation my dad taught me in the back yard.

Before we get in too deep with all of the different types of pitches, grips and releasing points, I want to start out by telling you a little about my pitching style. I start out with a firm foundation on the mound, separating my feet about shoulder width apart and staggered on the pitching mound. My right foot is slightly forward the plate with my ball of my foot just past the edge of the rubber. My left foot is just the opposite of my right. Instead of it hanging over the front of the plate, it is just slightly hanging off of the back

                           

    This is my younger sisters McKenzie (AKA Spaz) and I.  We have the same wind up.

Now that the foundation is set, I begin my wind up. I start with my hands apart so that I can “present” the ball to the batter. I then place my glove hand on my right thigh. I then place my throwing hand inside the glove hiding the ball and my grip from the batter. The ball can not come out of the glove until it is time to pitch. Now that I am ready to pitch, I then take a good breathe, look for the sign, watch for my target and start the pitch. I begin by raising my arms above my head into what my dad calls the “A” position.. The ball is still tucked into the glove not allowing the grip to be seen. As I am raising my arms I also rock back all of my weight and place it on to my left heel. This starts a pendulum effect.

Without stopping or hesitation, the pendulum goes forward increasing speed gradualy . The momentum of both of my arms going forward rock my body forward and I bend at the waist never taking my eyes off of the target.. As my arms both go past my waist they lock into the “B” position. Here in position “B” my weight is trasfered from the ball of my left back foot to the ball of my right foot.

With an explosion of power I go right to position “C”. Which is the launch/landing and delivery of the pitch all wrapped up in one nice little package. When you are exploding outward your hips will somewhat naturally turn “open” as you are pusihing off of the plate. As your are launched your push off toe should be pointed downward and your landing foot should land at about a 45 degree angle. As your pitching arm comes forward and releases the ball your push off leg should follow through the pitch and “close” your stance. Your pitching arm should finish quite naturally where it has been trained to and that position will vary from pitch to pitch.

In the above sequence of pictures I was throwing a Change-Up

This may sound like a ton of information as you when you read this at first but remember, with practice it will become much easier for you and if you break each stage down like my dad taught me in the beginning, it really won’t seem quite as bad. Good luck

-Bulldog