How many different pitches
can a fastpitch batter expect?
Condensed from a larger article headlined "How many pitches should a fastpitch pitcher have?" by Ken Krause at Life in the Fastpitch Lane website.
"The 'old school' approach is that a pitcher only needs three pitches – drop, changeup and riseball. And that approach has served many pitchers well for a lot of years."
USA Coach Rick Pauly asked his wife, Sarah, the winningest pitcher in National Pro Fastpitch history, how many she had.
"Her reply wasn’t three. It was seven. As I recall she named drop, change, rise, two curves, backdoor curve and a screwball.
"Rick and Sarah then went on to talk about how with today’s hitters you need to have more weapons.
"Think about why that is. In the old days in women’s fastpitch, the ball was white, with white seams, and pitchers even at the international level stood 40 feet away. Pitchers put in way more time learning their craft in the off-season than hitters did. That might have been a good thing because what most people were teaching about hitting was pretty bad. Hitters are smarter, too, spending more time studying pitchers and looking for patterns. Also, there is no doubt today’s bats are much hotter than those back in the day.
"You put all that together and having more than three ways to attack a hitter starts to make sense."
 |
| Wesley Wolverine senior #12 P Lindsay Siok (Milford, DE). |
"Her reply wasn’t three. It was seven. As I recall she named drop, change, rise, two curves, backdoor curve and a screwball.
"Rick and Sarah then went on to talk about how with today’s hitters you need to have more weapons.
"Think about why that is. In the old days in women’s fastpitch, the ball was white, with white seams, and pitchers even at the international level stood 40 feet away. Pitchers put in way more time learning their craft in the off-season than hitters did. That might have been a good thing because what most people were teaching about hitting was pretty bad. Hitters are smarter, too, spending more time studying pitchers and looking for patterns. Also, there is no doubt today’s bats are much hotter than those back in the day.
"You put all that together and having more than three ways to attack a hitter starts to make sense."
 |
Wesley
Wolverine
senior
#9 P/OF Lily
Engel
(Dover,
DE).
(If not mistaken that's a
screwball being tossed from her wrist above.)
|
