Slow- Pitch Softball Pitching

In slow-pitch, however, the pitcher basically concedes the fact that the batter is going to hit the ball. The pitch is a lazy, arching parabola that is set up just for the batter to smack, and the pitcher knows it. Therefore, the role of the pitcher then changes from trying to make the batter miss to trying to prevent the batter from making solid contact.

The best way to keep the batter from tattooing your pitches over the fence or splitting the gaps to the wall is by developing pitches that fully utilize the trajectory and angle of your presentation. Picture yourself at the plate. If the ball is coming at you out of the pitcher’s hand and rises only slightly before crossing the plate at a relatively flat angle, then you have plenty of time to put a serious smack on the ball. However, if the pitch leaves the pitcher’s hand on a steeper arch and you have to wait for it to drop down and cross the plate at a particular point in your zone, then it becomes much more difficult to time an effective and powerful swing. Therefore, successful slow-pitch pitchers know to use the arch of the pitch to their advantage and force the batter to do the work.

The trick to developing a solid pitching style that limits solid contact by the batter is to work on creating the perfect motion on the mound. Practice throwing the ball at slightly different heights and angles until you find a motion that uses the momentum of your windup to consistently drop pitches through the zone. Be conscious of your footwork and windup, and use practice batters to tell you how easily they can anticipate and contact your pitches as you experiment with different techniques. Once you develop an efficient motion and routine, then you can work on adjusting the height and speed of your pitches to handle different types of batters.