Pitchers must never duck!!!

[riseball]

So there I was in Columbia South Carolina watching my DD's team go up against the Gamecocks. About the 5th inning SC put in a Freshman pitcher. After a batter or two there was a throw down to 2nd base. Instead of getting out of the throwing lane, instead the young lady turned toward 3rd base and bent over to allow the throw to go over her head. As I saw her bend over everything seemed to go into slow motion as I watched the ball rifle from the hand of the catcher and impact the young lady on the side of her head. Thankfully it was a somewhat glancing blow with the ball ending up in the 6 hole. She went down and did not seem to lose consciousness and watched the remained of the game from the dugout. A very hard lesson learned.

The takeaway is PITCHERS SHOULD NEVER DUCK ON A THROW DOWN!!! I cringe every time I see this happen. This is a 100% preventable accident. Coaches please take note and and speak to your pitchers.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Ya get out of that path!
Good stuff Riser.

On a mostly unrelated story (I must have a version of turrets - sorry) I saw for the first time the other day this:
In pre-inning defensive warm-up the ball being thrown from the 3rd baseman to the 1st baseman collided mid-air with the ball being pitched from the pitcher to the catcher. Out of all the pre-college SB I have witnessed I never saw this happen til now. Luckily both balls hit hard enough together that they harmlessly went off in unoccupied directions.

 

[riseball]

Ya get out of that path!
Good stuff Riser.

On a mostly unrelated story (I must have a version of turrets - sorry) I saw for the first time the other day this:
In pre-inning defensive warm-up the ball being thrown from the 3rd baseman to the 1st baseman collided mid-air with the ball being pitched from the pitcher to the catcher. Out of all the pre-college SB I have witnessed I never saw this happen til now. Luckily both balls hit hard enough together that they harmlessly went off in unoccupied directions.

Remember as a kid going to the museum in Gettysburg and seeing minie balls fused together after meeting in mid air. Why not softballs?

 

[BobInMadison]

Thanks for the info, riseball. Every pitcher I see at the lower levels ducks every time, including DD.

 

[djcarter1966]

Funny thing about the pre game warm ups...I have actually seen the same thing a couple year ago. Took our team to a local college game and sure enough mid air collision between throw back to the pitcher and third baseman throwing to first. I always have my 3B throw from behind the pitcher basically beside SS, i know it's not the same throwing angle they would have during the game but it's just warm ups, your third baseman has made that throw thousands of times in practice I don't think those warm up throws will make that much difference. I would think it distract to the pitcher anyway.

 

[ArkFastpitch]

DD and I just had this discussion in practice the other day. She has a bad habit of ducking on a throwdown. I'll have to show her this thread. Thanks for posting Rise.

 

[ScottyDont]

Pitchers (and all fielders, for that matter) should never turn away from the ball. If you always know where the ball is, you'll always know when it's coming at you.

 

[Classof2020]

Mine doesn't turn away but she does squat down quickly while looking at the catcher. I didn't know she wasn't supposed to. Is there a preferred way/place for them to bail out??

 

[ConorMacleod]

I constantly remind my 12u DD to finish her pitch first, then get out of the way. She is so concerned with the throwdown that she basically does a walking pitch and doesn't finish hard.

 

[riseball]

Mine doesn't turn away but she does squat down quickly while looking at the catcher. I didn't know she wasn't supposed to. Is there a preferred way/place for them to bail out??

It is much quicker to bail than squat. The natural tendency is for RHP toward 3rd, LHP toward 1st. I would strongly suggest getting her catcher on the same page.