The cliches are true

[Lozza]

That you don't see the ball that (almost) hits you and that it happens in slow motion.

Playing tonight and pitching. I had a ball come SCREAMING back at me. I heard 'CATCH, CATCH' and the sharp intake of breath from the crowd. I got my glove up in time and deflected it to second base. Yet I never saw the ball. In the slightest.

Thank goodness for fast reaction times! (and I'll call my mum tomorrow to thank her for those hours of hitting tennis balls and golf balls at my face when I was 11/12 as a first base charging the bunt)

 

[jinjet95]

That's scary. I caught my breath just reading about it and remembering times we've seen pitchers almost hit. I'm glad you were able to deflect it.

 

[softballphreak]

That you don't see the ball that (almost) hits you and that it happens in slow motion.

Playing tonight and pitching. I had a ball come SCREAMING back at me. I heard 'CATCH, CATCH' and the sharp intake of breath from the crowd. I got my glove up in time and deflected it to second base. Yet I never saw the ball. In the slightest.

Thank goodness for fast reaction times! (and I'll call my mum tomorrow to thank her for those hours of hitting tennis balls and golf balls at my face when I was 11/12 as a first base charging the bunt)

She hit golf balls at your face?

My nose was broken by a tennis ball hit back at me from a HS sophomore. It was my fault; she was at home plate, I was at the backstop. I saw the bat hit the ball, but I never saw the ball move.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

It's just a reaction as you have more and more mound time. I got hit more 8-16U than 16u through college, even with better/harder hitters. But that doesn't make it any less scary. It's the young pitchers who do not have the reaction time down that worries me.

I also had one of those bad game experiences. My first year in college I got hit in the thigh, walked that off. Then next inning got hit in the shoulder, walked that off. 2 innings later got hit again by a freaking shot in the same thigh. I was done for the day and couldn't hardly move for 24 hours. Then went the rest of the season with no harm to my body. Guess I got them all done at once.

 

[maksoftball]

It's the young pitchers who do not have the reaction time down that worries me.

That's why my pitcher will always wear a mask infield. It is very scary. She's taken a hit to the shin bone a couple of times, and that hurts really badly (hard to believe that bone doesn't break easily!!).

 

[GOINGDEEP]

That's why my pitcher will always wear a mask infield. It is very scary. She's taken a hit to the shin bone a couple of times, and that hurts really badly (hard to believe that bone doesn't break easily!!).

That shin shot hurts like a mother. Only one that hurt me more was a shot to my big toe about 15u. Broke it and for a little bone that thing throbbed for weeks with pain.

The scariest was my senior year in HS. Playing the regional championship game, I threw a sinker that hung. Dude smashed it back at me, and I never even saw it. My ear felt funny so I reached up and the seams had cut my outer lobe with blood all on my shoulder. Took me about an inning to get my nervous back in order.

 

[Lozza]

She hit golf balls at your face?

Yup. She thought they were smaller and harder to see (this was when we still played with white balls)

 

[Steve Huff]

That you don't see the ball that (almost) hits you and that it happens in slow motion.

Playing tonight and pitching. I had a ball come SCREAMING back at me. I heard 'CATCH, CATCH' and the sharp intake of breath from the crowd. I got my glove up in time and deflected it to second base. Yet I never saw the ball. In the slightest.

Thank goodness for fast reaction times! (and I'll call my mum tomorrow to thank her for those hours of hitting tennis balls and golf balls at my face when I was 11/12 as a first base charging the bunt)

It wasn't that scoundrel Verity Long-Droppert again was it? Glad your safe! I do have one question though? Why are you allowing them to hit the ball?

 

[Lozza]

Nah didn't play her this week.

I'm not hitting my spots well enough. And my change isn't good enough yet. I've not played at this level in a LONG time so winter will be spent fixing those two problems.

 

[Indiana]

When my dd was 9 she was pitching in a rec league from a distance of 30 feet. I was chatting with another mom and not really paying attention (ah, the innocent days). I vaguely registered a pretty big girl going up to bat. Next thing I knew, dd is on the ground with the ball IN HER GLOVE. The umpire was so shocked he walked out to the circle, took the ball out of dd's glove, looked at it, put the ball back in her glove and patted her on the head. Then he remembered to call the batter out. DD was fine but the force of the line drive actually knocked her backwards.