Softball Coaches React To New Pitching Distance

March 15, 2011 /
SignOnSanDiego.com, Bill Dickens

Three feet. Doesn’t sound like much.

Yet one yard could make a significant difference when high school softball pitchers make their deliveries from 43 feet this season instead 40 as in years past.

The new pitching distance, mandated by the national federation for high school athletics, is drawing mostly favorable reactions.

“I am glad that something was done to reduce the impact on a pitching-dominated game,” Patrick Henry coach Don Shaffer said.

Some believe the move was made for safety reasons, but that’s not the case. Creating a better balance between offense and defense was the rationale for the rule change.

Fast-pitch critics have complained for years that the short pitching distance — 40 feet in softball, as opposed to 60 feet, 6 inches in baseball — stifles offense.

“By moving the circle back three feet I don’t think we are going to have as many dominant pitchers,” Granite Hills coach Erin Coyne said. “It is going to give another half a second to our hitters to put the ball in play and challenge our defense.”

One early dissenter is Scripps Ranch coach Tom Peronto.

“These changes are made to better prepare the top athletes for college ball, but the fact of the matter is that about 75 percent of the kids playing high school ball will never play college ball,” Peronto said. “Some schools are lucky to have a pitcher at all, let alone someone who can throw productively from 43 feet.”

The National Federation of State High School Associations reports that pitching from the 43-foot distance produced an increase in “nearly every offensive statistic” during a first-year trial in Florida and Oregon and that “more balls are hit into play.”

Early results in the San Diego Section hint of higher scores and fewer strikeouts.

“All in all, the hitters are able to see the ball longer, so I feel that the hitters should gain a little advantage,” Shaffer said. “The scores will possibly be a run or two higher.”

No one is predicting an avalanche of scoring-fests, however.

“I believe moving the pitcher’s distance back will produce more offense but not nearly as much as people think,” said Jonathan Moore, coach of top-ranked Torrey Pines. “I think the big effect will be on the running game. My team is very fast so I like the move a lot. The extra three feet that the ball has to travel to reach home plate will benefit the faster teams as they attempt to steal bases.”

The 43-foot distance has long been standard for college softball. At the same time, the move won’t be an extreme change for many high school pitchers, either. Most travel-team tournaments already have adopted the 43-foot distance.

Valhalla coach Steve Sutton, who ranks third on the section’s all-time list for softball coaching wins, said pitchers will change their release points so that their balls break across the plate as effectively as they did when throwing from 40 feet.

“Pitchers and batters have been able to adjust from 40 feet in high school to 43 feet during travel ball season,” he said. “Now that both high school and travel ball are at 43 feet, I don’t think we’ll see much of a change in players’ performances because the majority of varsity players have already been playing at this distance.”

El Capitan sophomore Delanie Gourley, who struck out 14 in a one-hitter this season, pointed out one advantage with the longer distance.

“I don’t think I’ve lost any speed and I am able to get more spin on the ball, which creates more movement.” said Gourley, a Florida commit who has been clocked at 63 mph.

Long Beach State-bound Amanda Hansen of University City agrees, though it’s estimated that a 60 mph pitch at 43 feet offers about the same reaction time as a 55 mph pitch at 40 feet.

“All of my pitches work better from farther away,” Hansen said. “I’ve been working hard at strengthening my abs and legs. That’s the key.”

Valhalla pitcher Torrey Rook favors the increased distance as a pitcher and hitter.

“As a hitter it gives you more time to read a pitch,” she said. “That can only help your batting average.”


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