Introduction to Pitching Mechanics in Softball

Suzy Willemssen explains the basics of softball, such as an introduction to pitching mechanics in softball

Suzy Willemssen: Hi! I'm Suzy Willemssen. I am a Travel Ball and high school softball coach. I have Christie here helping to demonstrate some basic Fastpitch softball skills. In particular, we're going to discuss some of the pitching mechanics. With this segment, we're going to have Christie just kind of do her full motion and as she is going through the full motion, I want you to look at how rhythmic she is, how fluid she has, she has a tempo and Christie, let's see how you have just start throwing. Also, we'll talk about some other things that you need to take in account when you are pitching in Fastpitch softball. In addition to how Christie is rhythmic and fluid, she needs to start with both feet on the mount, to get the aside from pitcher and then just let it go. Now, we all know pitching is trying to disrupt what is the ultimate goal of every hitter and that is timing. So, since hitting is all about timing, a pitchers job is to do whatever she can do to disrupt that. So, a good thing for pitchers to learn initially is going to be the Fastball, then the change-up and then a drop ball. Those are three great foundation pitches for beginning pitchers and you also could throw a curve ball, a screw ball, a rise ball, it's also great pitch because that also breaks the planes, north and south, but to throw a true rise ball, you need to be able to throw the ball about at least 58 miles an hour. So, in our next segment, we're going to break down each one of those pitches and have Christie demonstrate the grips and I'll show you what those pitches look like.