The Blame Game: Understanding the Fine Art of Softball Pitching

Just imagine it. You’re watching a baseball game, bottom of the ninth, score tied. Two outs. The next batter hits a double on the first pitch. Well, you could be cheering and freaking out or you could be dying of a silent anxiety attack, throwing things, or loudly cussing out the pitcher. It is the last option that I want to talk to you about. What most people think is: “just strike them out,” “that person is a terrible pitcher,” “pull them out of the game.” Most people don’t know anything about pitchers and therefore do not appreciate how hard the job of the pitcher is and how much work they put into it.

I play softball, very similar to baseball but with many differences. I am a pitcher. Now unlike in baseball, I pitch underhand, but everything else (hard work, off season training, mental game, etc.) is the same. Just learning to pitch the basic fastball take weeks, days, hours of work. All parts of the pitch has to be put to muscle memory so that the pitch can be thrown using the same mechanics over and over again. Once pitchers have mastered the fastball, and only then, can they start throwing different pitches like the change up, drop ball, and screw ball. Then the whole process of hours and hours of work starts all over again.

Pitchers have to do more than just pitch; they have to stay in good shape. Muscle building routines are recommended to help strengthen muscles needed for pitching that can help with improving ball speed. Jogging or other aerobic exercises are needed to build a stamina. (Softball pitchers will often pitch an entire double header, several days in a row.) Training can also be used as a way to avoid injuries. Most of that can be done by pitching correctly and not overworking the pitching arm as well.

While I realize that most people are not going care about how to throw a fastball or how a pitcher avoids getting hurt; it matters a lot to me. I am benefiting from doing my ELI on pitching and improving in many ways. For other readers, who are not pitchers, all I can really ask of you is to simply appreciate what it takes to become a pitcher and how much work we put into  it. So, the next time you are watching a major league game and a batter on the other team gets a critical hit, don’t rush to blame the pitcher. Instead, think about all the work that went into that one pitch and consider that the batter just got lucky.

~Leah T. D.