For some people, when they watch a fast-pitch softball game, it can be difficult to see the variation of pitches that are used.
The pitcher winds up and delivers, but what pitch was used? The Shorthorn visited with the Mavericks to discover the science behind fast-pitch softball pitching.
THE MECHANICS
Before taking a look at the different pitches used, it’s important to understand the basics of how a softball is thrown.
Known as the “windmill,” fast-pitch softball pitchers wind up in a circular motion while pushing off of their back foot and opening up into a long stride. Pitching coach Meagan Denny-White said it all starts with the leg drive.
“Women are built to have more power from the hips down,” Denny-White said. “Men obviously have more upper body strength, so that’s why men pitch overhand and women pitch underhand.
Because the strengths are different, Denny-White said that the strategy is different.
“Women get all their power from their legs. When we get to the release point, nothing is in the way. We can just snap the ball and finish it with our power in the hips.”
THE RISE
This pitch starts out looking like a strike and then jumps high out of the strike zone, Denny-White said, enticing the batter to swing under the ball.
Senior pitcher Teri Lyles said she uses the rise when she is ahead in the count to throw the batters off balance.
“Mostly, in to the righties,” Lyles said, describing the rise when thrown to right-handed batters. “It kind of looks like it’s coming at them, going at their hands to make them want it, and the ball goes up.”
THE DROP
The drop ball is exactly what it sounds like. Denny-White said the ball comes straight in to the plate and then drops at the last second and is very deceptive to batters.
Lyles’ version is a hybrid pitch called a drop-curve and said it is her go-to pitch when she wants strikes and strikeouts.
“If I’m ahead in the count, then I’ll try to make it drop a little more,” Lyles said. “If I’m behind, then I’ll try to make it not drop as much so it looks more like a strike.”
THE CHANGEUP
Denny-White said the Mavericks normally throw between 50 and 65 mph. The changeup is thrown about 15 mph slower than normal.
“Every once in a while, you have to throw a trick pitch that floats in and slowly dies right before the plate,” Denny-White said. “It gets the batter completely off their timing and balance and then their swing looks like a 2-year-old out there trying to swing a bat.”
Junior pitcher Callie Collins said the changeup is somewhat new to her this season.
“We’ve been using it as a waste pitch, or sometimes as a strike pitch,” Collins said. “Setting up the faster pitches and mixing up the speeds; not throwing the same speeds over and over.”
THE CURVE AND THE SCREW
From a right-handed pitcher, the curve comes in to the plate on the outside to a right-handed batter and inside to a leftie, while the screw travels exactly the opposite.
“This year, I’ve developed a backdoor curve with both of them,” Denny-White said. “It looks like a curveball, and it looks like it’s actually about to hit a right-handed batter, but at the last second it curves in on the inside corner.”
Collins describes the curve as her go-to pitch to set batters up for the outside pitch.
“We normally stair-step it,” Collins said, describing how she throws the ball further out on each pitch. “We have 0-0 spots, 1-2 spots, 0-2 spots, and we just keep getting them farther and farther off and then bust them in to get them either freezing or get them swinging.”
Collins said the screw is easy for the batter to turn on.
“We normally just jam it up at their hands or try to keep it low,” Collins said. “Get them to foul it off or get them swinging at the ankles.”
VARIATION
With a variety of pitches to choose from, it can be important to mix it up and keep the batter guessing.
Denny-White said a pitcher wants to keep it simple while forcing the batter to make it complicated.
“You have to have an arsenal of pitches,” Denny-White said. “You can’t just have one or two. If you show a hitter one or two of the same pitches on different sides of the plate, they’re going to end up sitting on it and ultimately getting your number.”
@DavidShorthorn
david.kline@mavs.uta.edu
