Ok I am quickly becoming softball guy after my league just finished this year. Our team sucks but I had fun this year since I was the pitcher. I was curious if anyone here pitched in slow pitch softball and if they could give me any tips. I pitch with my palm over the ball since I am terrible with my control the regular way with my palm under it. Are there any other pitches I can learn pitching this way or do I have to learn how to pitch the regular way to throw other pitches? I'm mainly asking because the last game we played the other team was just crushing the ball off of me and that really had not happened this year. Usually its just our crappy defense that allows the runs to score and not the other team actually hitting. Oh well any advice would be good. Also to any Austinites....does anyone know of any batting cages here in Austin? I suck at hitting and I need to practice.
Maybe you can do like that kid did in Rookie of the Year and toss it up REALLY high so the batters lose the pitch in the sun...
good idea but we were playing at night perhaps i can find a way to make the moon brighter to blind them.
I'm playing in a softball league this summer, but that doesn't make me an expert. My expertise lies on the baseball diamond. In my opinion, as a pitcher you should keep the ball high in the strike zone. The pitch looks big and fat to the hitter, so they'll swing, but they'll likely pop it up or tomahawk it into a grounder. It's been my experience that the batters really crush the balls waist high and below. Those pitches allow for the golf-swing clouts.
A level swing will hit the ball harder and further any time. I always loved watching someone swing up on the ball because you knew it wasnt going to work.
I guess that was the problem last night. The other team was taking those high pitches and the ump wasn't calling them for strikes. Now that I think about it thats when I do have my most success.
Depending on what sanction you play in, you might have an arc limit on pitches. A pitch with little arc is known as a "flat" pitch and those are the pitches that get hammered. Pitches with too much arc are supposed to be called balls unless you are playing in a sanction (like ASA) where there is no limit and it is a strike if it hits the black (the lining of the outer edges of home plate) or falls right behind the plate. As a batter, if those pitches (usually considered deep pitches) are being called strikes, you adjust by moving back in the batter's box. You might want to see if you can pitch with backspin. You'll have to practice a lot to get the control down but a pitch with backspin comes at a batter with a different spin (obviously) than a normal underhanded pitch. This will screw batters up sometimes, especially if they don't wait long enough.
Sorry guess I didn't explain it that well but I can only pitch by throwing it with backspin. I am horrible with my control the regular underhanded way. I might be able to get more spin on it if I try to work on it more. I know some pitchers who throw the regular way can throw knuckleballs and slider type pitches. Also we do have the limit for how high or low the pitch can be. The ump will holler out illegal pitch while its in the air and then it's the batters decision to swing or not. I got lucky last night and struck a guy out on an illegal pitch that the ump didn't call and it landed in for a strike.
Oh, I see. I played against a team one time that had a pitcher who looked like he was placing a side spin on the ball. It reminded me of like a spinning top. The spin on the ball was so different that it goofed up a lot of people's timing (including mine). Actually having backspin like you do makes you a more unique pitcher than those who just pitch underhanded (and most of those guys don't know how to pitch anything but batting practice). I would just work on varying my arcs and trying to see if I could pitch inside and outside. The best slow pitch softball pitchers, IMO or at least from my experience were those who could pitch a strike any time they needed to. The rest of the time they pitched "junk" like short pitches, too much arc, outside, inside, etc. Yet, their "junk" was convincing enough, many times, to look like a strike. As for the batters swinging at illegal pitches after they are called illegal pitches - that is pretty dumb because that is an automatic ball. In some sanctions, they won't even let the batter swing at the pitch.
