Pitching rule change
- Thread starter nicelag
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
I think something is getting lost in the translation here. I believe that this a general statement, not a stategy you execute every game. Otherwise there would be lots more outs for leaving early.
Last edited:
I have a daughter who pitched. Only time she got called for IP's is when she separated her hands and brought them back together. Never was she called for leaping or crow-hopping. With that said, I am in favor of making them both legal. I get so tired of hearing the parents bitch and moan when another pitcher has the slightest of leaps. If they want to leap up rather than forward, I don't care. A simple vector analysis will tell you that leaping is less efficient. I don't care if they crow-hop, either. Let the ISF rules prevail.
- Feb 22, 2013
- 206
- 18
The pitching rule that I would like to see in Women's Softball is - Let the girls take a step back off of the rubber with their stride foot in order to improve their load on the foot they push off with, just like they do in NFHS.
It has always bothered me that when we teach little boys to pitch, we teach them to throw out of the wind up. For the most part, both feet start on the rubber and the right handed pitcher takes a step back with his left foot, loads his left foot, lifts or repositions his right foot and then steps down on his right foot and loads his right foot as he pushes off of the mound and gets his arm and body weight going towards home plate. Little League baseball has it right. Kids can't lead off and the pitchers don't have to start working out of the stretch until they get out of Little League Baseball. Very rarely, do I see a high level Little League Baseball pitcher throw out of the stretch at the Little League Baseball World Series, because, in my opionion, throwing out of the wind up generates an easier and slightly more powerful load, than throwing out of the stretch.
It's almost like the people who wrote the ASA rule book for women, back in the day, never pitched nor understood how difficult it is to teach a girl to load her push off foot, especially while trying to maintain two feet on the pitching rubber.
In all of the 20+ years that I watched men's fastpitch, I never can recall seeing one male fastpitch softball pitcher leave two feet on the rubber, prior to loading his push off foot. Every male fastpitch pitcher threw similar to the wind up that we learned in Little League Baseball by stepping back and loading the stride foot, stepping forward and loading the push off foot and pushing off of the rubber with all of his momentum heading towards home plate.
Just my 2 cents.
It has always bothered me that when we teach little boys to pitch, we teach them to throw out of the wind up. For the most part, both feet start on the rubber and the right handed pitcher takes a step back with his left foot, loads his left foot, lifts or repositions his right foot and then steps down on his right foot and loads his right foot as he pushes off of the mound and gets his arm and body weight going towards home plate. Little League baseball has it right. Kids can't lead off and the pitchers don't have to start working out of the stretch until they get out of Little League Baseball. Very rarely, do I see a high level Little League Baseball pitcher throw out of the stretch at the Little League Baseball World Series, because, in my opionion, throwing out of the wind up generates an easier and slightly more powerful load, than throwing out of the stretch.
It's almost like the people who wrote the ASA rule book for women, back in the day, never pitched nor understood how difficult it is to teach a girl to load her push off foot, especially while trying to maintain two feet on the pitching rubber.
In all of the 20+ years that I watched men's fastpitch, I never can recall seeing one male fastpitch softball pitcher leave two feet on the rubber, prior to loading his push off foot. Every male fastpitch pitcher threw similar to the wind up that we learned in Little League Baseball by stepping back and loading the stride foot, stepping forward and loading the push off foot and pushing off of the rubber with all of his momentum heading towards home plate.
Just my 2 cents.
- Jun 22, 2008
- 3,438
- 48
ISF still calls the crow hop and the change in the leap was as much of a participation change as the step back is in HS ball
In NFHS you can start with 1 foot on rubber but you cannot step back. That is an IP.
In NFHS, the pitcher can step back prior to the hands coming together, or as the hands are coming together. Once the hands are together, the step must be only forward.
Yes, that is correct.
