- May 28, 2014
- 281
- 18
So, my DD came home from a pre-school ball work out the other day, she was a bit annoyed at the new JV Coach. He had told her to not throw sidearm while fielding. (also he told all the girls there that "masks are not needed in the infield except pitcher" but thats another rant for another day) When he asked what position she played and she told him 2b he said "oh well you REALLY need to not throw sidearm then!" Now my DD can throw from any arm slot, but mainly throws sidearm/ 3/4th slot - she will throw overhand when in the outfield. Needless to say - I have always told her its fine, but I was feeling a bit jaded , probably because of the mask remark in addition to that and had some time to kill at work so I streamed OU vs UoF 5ish hour Game 1 of the championship series from last year and recorded these statistics.
In the game there were 30 fieldable ground balls hit over the course of 5 hours - now this is a small sample size, but you will get the idea.
Out of the 30 fieldable balls 77% of the balls were thrown sidearm (or damn near it, there is a chance that it was closer to 3/4 slot on a few of them)
so - 23 out of 30 balls thrown sidearm - because overhand is TOO SLOW in most situations
Out of the rest -
2 were underhand tosses
5 were overhand throws - out of these 5, 2 were combackers to the pitcher, 1 was thrown from the ground at an angle that would prevent a sidearm throw - and..
2 - only two - were standard plays to the infield - 2 hard hit balls directly at the shortstop with slower runners that she could have ran to the concession stand and got a drink and came back and still threw the girls out.
The 3b and 2b never threw a ball overhand the entire game.
Now I didnt go back and tell him this - but my DD did feel a bit vindicated - and will continue to throw as the play dictates going foward
/rant
In the game there were 30 fieldable ground balls hit over the course of 5 hours - now this is a small sample size, but you will get the idea.
Out of the 30 fieldable balls 77% of the balls were thrown sidearm (or damn near it, there is a chance that it was closer to 3/4 slot on a few of them)
so - 23 out of 30 balls thrown sidearm - because overhand is TOO SLOW in most situations
Out of the rest -
2 were underhand tosses
5 were overhand throws - out of these 5, 2 were combackers to the pitcher, 1 was thrown from the ground at an angle that would prevent a sidearm throw - and..
2 - only two - were standard plays to the infield - 2 hard hit balls directly at the shortstop with slower runners that she could have ran to the concession stand and got a drink and came back and still threw the girls out.
The 3b and 2b never threw a ball overhand the entire game.
Now I didnt go back and tell him this - but my DD did feel a bit vindicated - and will continue to throw as the play dictates going foward
/rant
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