Friday, October 9, 2009

Becoming a Better Softball Hurler

By Annilee Kazushi

Softball pitching is all about knowing what you can throw, how accurate you can be, and keeping batters off balance. If they don't know what is coming next, how are they going to hit it? When utilizing all the softball throwing options out there, the more knowledgeable you are the better you will be. Maybe you want to throw a fastball or changeup. Maybe the situation calls for a dropball or peeldrop. Maybe you just want to make time stand still with the slowed down pitch. Whatever the case may be, each one of them can definitely help your game.

When you want to throw a fastball, the motion starts out as a windmill. In order to have the appropriate grips you have to grab the two horseshoes. Now, you can use as little as 2 fingers or as many as 4, but this usually depends on the size of the player's hand. Just remember that the more fingers you use, the more easily it will be able to be controlled.

Balance is an extremely important factor when it comes to softball throwing. If you truly want to have the correct equilibrium, we recommend keeping the feet a little less than shoulder width's apart. When you begin your wind-up your weight will move from the weaker foot to your strong one. You will notice a rocking motion take place when this occurs.

As the pitching arm begins to move towards the catcher the arm will be raised at a 12 o' clock angle. To balance everything out and keep from leaning one way or another, the glove arm will actually point towards the catcher. Once the ball comes through the wind-up and is ready to be released, it will leave your hand around waist level. However, you must snap your wrist to get a rotation or spin on the ball.

Changeups in softball pitching are a little different. Granted, the wind-up and the grip are the same, but your wrist action will vary. The idea is to release the ball before you reach waist level, and flip both the wrist and the forearm. Doing so will create a slowed movement which creates the changeup.

Some softball pitching involves a dropball, which is accomplished by holding it with the fingertips on the stitches of the horseshoe. Taking a much shorter stride than a fastball, you land with the gloved side leg. By staying tall as you release that ball, with your weight forward you release the ball by pulling backwards a bit with your fingertips, thus creating a very fast forward spin.

Another kind of softball throwing is when performing a curveball. You will need to place your small finger as well as your index finger where the laces are at their furthest. The top of the ball as the laces curve around is where you will place your middle and ring fingers. The thumb goes under the ball. If you are right handed when you release the pitch you will roll the ball counter-clockwise, but clockwise if you are left handed. This is what enables the ball to break away from the batter.

Of course as in any sport, the amount of time you practice your softball pitching is crucial to developing pitches that will throw off your batters.

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