How many realistic pitches do you need?

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"In the GLIAC." Pretty sure the pitchers' fastballs aren't 70+ there.

Maybe, maybe not. But fpitchdad says "depending on your level of play." Not sure what he meant by that then. You mean at D3 (coachjwb) DD could throw fastballs successfully but at D2 (GLIAC) you can't , then at D1 you can again? Don't see the logic there.

 

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I believe the logic is that if it isn't super fast like you've seen on TV (70 ish), then a fastball will likely turn into a hit when facing topnotch hitters no matter what Division. He can explain further if he chooses, but at higher levels you simply don't want to throw a straight pitch. That may be the case in D3 college games today as well.

 

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You can be sure that my DD didn't serve up very many fastballs over the plate to the top hitters in her conference ... when she did, they were frequently hit hard. Many of the fastballs she threw to better hitters were off the plate, at a "hole" in the batter's swing or away from their power, and/or were often set up by the change or drop. With that being said, I have no doubt in my mind that had she pitched the same way at the D1 level, she would have been "lit up" pretty well. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but there's a ton of importance around location and keeping the batter guessing at all levels of baseball and softball. My DD never had much success developing a curve or rise, and so we more or less looked at her fastball as her 3rd pitch ... if you can throw and spot a movement pitch at close to the same speed as a fastball, I agree there's much not sense in throwing fastballs that don't break.

 

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How realistic is it for a 9/10U and 11/12U to be throwing 6o+mph?
I am laughing as I type this.. for the past five weeks lately this is the Magic Speed I've heard over and over again..that my DD needs to be working hard at hitting this speed and that all the "Good Travel Teams" are only looking for pitchers that can do this.

I am intrested in knowing what the average speed is for the 11/12U is also?

For a year now I have heard several debates of what makes you a good pitcher, it's either one that can throw speed or one that can throw junk. I say both

My DD is 10 soon to be 11 (Big Girl) and can regularly throw a FB, 2 change ups (depending on how her manhands hold the ball that day), and a drop peel. She is working to improve the screwball and drop curve. In games she is only given three maybe four different pitches to throw.. We dont want her hitting every kid. As her speed picks up we have to do some readjusting to her releasing points but who doesn't? It's all a learning and growing process. Us parents learning and the kids growing.

She works hard on improving each pitch.. Has she mastered them all at 100% No, can she do placement? Yes. Her junk by far has set many girls down. Iv'e seen her throw three change ups in row to the Big Hitter and leave them standing there after they swung on everyone. She just smiles right back at them and then looks at me and smiles.. I'll take that any day over being the fastest pitcher on the team.

 

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I would consider curves and screws offspeed.....

Which pitches do you consider to be offspeed? Curves and screws are not offspeed pitches in softball like they are in baseball.

 

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I would consider curves and screws offspeed.....

Nope, not in softball.

 

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10 year olds can get away with mainly fastballs if they can hit the four corners (two low and two high_at 12 they better develop off speed and movement pitchers. By 14 they better have mastered offspeed (change), a ball that goes up, and a ball that goes down, either a true drop or a drop curve.
Used to be a kid needed to hit 60mph to play division one, but to be really effective, their junk needs to be in the arena, and the fastball if thrown needs to be @ 65......62 mph fastballs, unless thrown "exactly" where it needs to be has HR written all over it now. Same with rise balls that stay too low in the strike zone.

 

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I would consider curves and screws offspeed.....

I think of off-speed as a change-up. It is a pitch that fools by timing.
I think of curves and screws as pitches that fool by change of location-should be near or at fastball velocity.

 

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How many young kids work hard on "knee, knee, shoulder, shoulder"?

 

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Great advice and thread. And to the person who's daughter has 5 pitches.... if we count those, then my DD has ten... LOL. It's nice to see people able to laugh...

 

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There is a fastball fully loaded...every other pitch is off-speed; even the rise that sometimes is faster than a fastball. the various motions and the spins make them off-speed generally 2 to 3 MPH slower with 10 to 15RPS more. ((Now don't even start on the slow curve or the fast change and the slow change)) There are endless varieties and numberless ways to pitch by an inventive pitcher.

Just how many pitches did Satchel Page have? As many as he said he did.

 

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DD is 9u, she throws 5 pitches,she throws a bouncer to the catcher, an extreme rise over the catchers head, an inside hit batter pitch, right down the middle pitch, and baskins robbins ball,that one is named after the ice cream truck in the parking lot behind the back stop she hits.;&

Don't forget the sixth pitch. . . they one where it gets caught by the second basement

 

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Rise, drop, change, according to Hillhouse. From experience, at the college level, this couldn't be farther from the truth......just saying

 

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Rise, drop, change, according to Hillhouse. From experience, at the college level, this couldn't be farther from the truth......just saying

AMEN kid.

 

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Rise, drop, change, according to Hillhouse. From experience, at the college level, this couldn't be farther from the truth......just saying

Please explain yourself...

 

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Still trying to figure out....WHY anyone would want to get rid of the ice cream truck?

 

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Please explain yourself...

Should be interesting........

 

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Please explain yourself...

About Hillhouse?, lol, that will be easy..............or about rise, drop, change only?....you should know....

 

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There is a fastball fully loaded...every other pitch is off-speed; even the rise that sometimes is faster than a fastball. the various motions and the spins make them off-speed generally 2 to 3 MPH slower with 10 to 15RPS more. ((Now don't even start on the slow curve or the fast change and the slow change)) There are endless varieties and numberless ways to pitch by an inventive pitcher.

:lmao:

 

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Slapforhits, From experience, you may have seen the advantage of a great screwball or curveball at the collegiate level. you've played the game, and you know through firsthand experience. I guess it all depends on the pitcher throwing it, right?
Hillhouse may have a nasty combo of those three, so that's his opinion, plus, he's a dude. Jackie Traina throws a killer curveball and change combo. Same can be said about Dallas Escobedo's riseball. Erin Aravelo last season succeeded using her drop.
I think that one cannot generalize fastpitch softball to the level of three needed pitches. It comes down to finding what pitches you throw best and then making them dominant.
so, in short, I have answered my own rhetorical question. Unless you were thinking of something completely different...