Fastpitch is not Baseball for Girls!!!
Published by League Admin
Nov 22, 2018
Jan. 28, 2008
By Carolyn Braff<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
CSTV.com
Fast pitch softball is not the beer ball pickup game you enjoyed at your family picnic, and it's not baseball for girls. Collegiate softball has little to do with collegiate baseball, and with opening day of the 2008 season just a week away, it's time to clear up some common misconceptions about this fast-paced, hard-hitting sport.
The most obvious difference between softball and baseball is the size of the field. In women's fastpitch, the bases are separated by 60 feet, not 90; the pitcher's circle is 43 feet from home plate, not 60 feet, six inches; and the outfield fences are closer to 200 feet from the plate than 400. Despite the name, a softball is no softer than a baseball, it's just larger - a softball has a 12-inch circumference while a baseball is nine inches around.
"It's the only game that I know of that women play on women's dimensions," Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly said, explaining that women's volleyball, soccer and basketball are all played on fields or courts with dimensions identical - or nearly so - to the men's game. "With women's fastpitch, it's all geared to action."
The smaller field not only allows for a faster, more intense game, it requires it.
"The smaller dimensions of the field add to the action of the game," said Jerry Bark, who has been umpiring fastpitch softball games, including the Women's College World Series, for 26 years. "The corners - the first and third basemen - are virtually within feet of the batter. Decisions have to be made quicker due to the distance being played by the fielders."
The smaller field also allows fans to get closer to the game, as the backstop is set only 25 feet behind home plate.
"Baseball's a fun sport to watch but you don't feel like you can get into the game at all because everything is so distant," Texas A&M third baseman Jamie Hinshaw said. "With softball it's much closer. And girls, we show our emotion a lot more, so we get excited and we yell. It's a really fun atmosphere."
Even from the distance of a television broadcast, it's hard not to notice the pace at which the fastpitch game moves. A regulation softball game is seven innings, not nine, and is usually over in 90 minutes, as opposed to the three-hour affair a college baseball game entails. They don't call it fastpitch just because it sounds nice.
"Everything seems to happen at a faster pace," Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher said. "The time between pitches and time between actions seems to be a lot faster, so it's a little more intense. We use the short game a lot more. It's more about placement and precision when you get into the short game."
Runners are not permitted to take a lead off of the base until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, which negates the need for pitchers to pick runners off at the bag. As a result, the flow of the game is far more difficult to interrupt, keeping a consistent tilt for a full seven innings.
"With the speed at which the game is being played, decisions have to be made quickly," Bark said. "I love to see teams run the hit-and-runs, the bunts, the steals, the squeezes - I just love the entire makeup of the game."
The most distinguishing characteristic of the fastpitch game is the pitching motion itself. The windmill release is more complicated than it looks, harder to hit than it seems and a lot faster than spectators might imagine.
"When the pitchers pitch the ball, the batters actually have less time to react to it than a 95-mph pitch in baseball, and I don't think a lot of baseball fans realize that," said Tennessee assistant coach Stephanie Humphrey-Sayne, a four-year letterwinner with the Lady Vols. "That's one thing to look for, how quickly the ball gets to the batters and how short a time the batters have to react to it."
The underhanded throwing motion is less debilitating to the body than the baseball pitch, which allows fastpitch pitchers to throw games on consecutive days. The pitcher, therefore, becomes the most important player on the fastpitch roster.
"Fastpitch softball has been dominated by pitching more than any other sport," Arizona interim head coach Larry Ray said. "If you've got an outstanding pitcher, generally your team is very successful."
"History shows us that a dominating pitcher can keep any team in any game," Bark said. "They may not have a team who can score, but the pitcher will definitely keep them in the game. The most important player on a team is that player in the circle."
Softball pitchers have quite the arsenal of pitches at their disposal. A good hurler can pick from the drop pitch (similar to baseball's breaking ball), a curve, a screw ball and a rise ball - in which the pitch jumps 12-18 inches upwards as it enters the strike zone - but nothing makes a hitter look more foolish than a well-thrown change-up. The most talented pitchers use all the weapons at their disposal and execute to near perfection every time they take the mound.
"Whereas in baseball a good ERA is under 2 or under 3, in softball a good one is under 1.5," said Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson.
Perhaps the most unique piece of the fastpitch puzzle is the slap, an offensive maneuver somewhere between a bunt and a swing for the fences.
"A slap is basically a quick half-swing attempt to hit the ball," Bark explained. "Most of the time it involves a left-handed batter running through the box."
The motion may look funny, as the hitter begins running before she swings the bat, but a good slapper can turn a game upside down. In fact, a fast player is often taught to hit left-handed just so that she can run the slap effectively.
"A great slap hitter is a cause of concern to any defending team," Bark said. "They put additional pressure on the defense because once the ball is contacted, that slap hitter runs through the box and they're five or six feet already up the line by the time the ball hits the ground. The fielder has to field it cleanly and throw it cleanly to get that out, so a great slap hitter can definitely change the tempo and the makeup of a game."
"The speed that comes along with having the slappers is just not in a baseball game," <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt said.
Fastpitch softball is a fast-paced, hard-hitting game that is quickly making its way out of the shadow of "women's baseball," the misnomer with which it was tagged for so long. Just which part is the best part of the game is a measure for debate, but one thing's for sure - it's certainly addictive.
"It's one of these sports that someone will be over at a baseball game, they'll walk across the hill and watch us play and then they just get hooked," Virginia Tech coach Scot Thomas said. "I think it's because of the speed of the game. In softball you don't have to wait so long for things to happen. It's a bang-bang type of sport. People can bite into it easier than other sports."
There is no better time than the present to take a bite out of this game. Competition begins nationwide next week.