Men's Fastpitch question

[mad hornet]

My dad played Fastpitch in central Ohio in the 80's till he stepped in a hole in centerfield and messed up his knee. I'll never forget the pitcher on his team the guy was legendary. Name was Dave Seech and word was he threw 100 mph. I don't know how fast he really threw but they eventually banned him from pitching in league play. His arms were as big as my legs and my dad used to tell me his rise ball would start at ur ankles and end up at ur eyes. This from a group of guys who referred to slo-pitch as puss-pitch. I used to watch their games and was glad I played baseball. LOL

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like the men's FP league is like the old set up for men's league in baseball after HS or the summer's between the college seasons. Sponsored by a business ( Coke, Pepsi, GE, etc )

The pitching is my most concern and interest, since this was non-existent in my area ( southeast ) I'm trying to figure out when these great "men" pitchers got the practice growing up. Did they have classifications like the girls, 10u/12u/14u? The literature that I can find show men winning this and that nationwide, but no literature of the same pitcher at 20 winning FP at 15.

I guess I'm asking more for the American experience, although I appreciate the worldly comments.

I know this is a strange thread but I've grown to love fastpitch through my DD, and would have enjoyed playing some FP of my own in my younger years. How could I have spent most of my young/teen/20ish life around the ball fields and so rarely seen this sport??

 

[mad hornet]

I'm surprised Hal Skinner hasn't chimed in. From what he's written I gather the men's game has been big in Cali for a lot of years

 

[Kaizen]

There are several men's fastpitch leagues in my area. Many of them these days are leagues for players aged 35+. There are lots of ex-baseball players who switch over and learn to pitch underhand after their baseball-playing days are over.

 

[X pitcher]

I'm surprised Hal Skinner hasn't chimed in. From what he's written I gather the men's game has been big in Cali for a lot of years

I'm sure he will.

 

[X pitcher]

I'm surprised Hal Skinner hasn't chimed in. From what he's written I gather the men's game has been big in Cali for a lot of years

I'm sure he will. Where I grew up we had cub scouts FP, play ground FP, grade school 5th and 6th grade FP. Jr church league FP...Sr church FP, City FP Factory FP to The 4 time ASA national champions and 2 time ISF WT champions...We learned from watching and asking questions and just playing catch copying the men. My idols were 2 ASA HOFer pitchers.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

The women never had lessons either. There was no such thing as a pitching coach. Men's leagues were as common as women's leagues in Il. The men were still playing in their 40s. Well, some of the women were too. I knew many of the men pitchers, in Shelbyville and ADM had the teams that worked in their factory. (Decatur) But when I started playing for Casey il. Is where I saw the top men's team in the state.

 

[ms244]

We hosted the Mens fastpitch nationals (+40 I believe) back in 2012 here in Moline. This year we are the hosting the ISC fastpitch National in August. For me I can't see enough FP softball so it is a great opportunity to watch more FP softball. A couple of years ago I had a company come out to my house to give me a quote on my roof and he noticed the softballs I had in the garage. We struck up a conversation about FP softball and he told me he was a FP player. I guess he noticed the shocked look on my face because until that time I didn't know that it was also played by men. Then he told me he was a FP pitcher and offered to give my daughter lessons. We never took him up on the offer but that was my introduction to FP for men. Needless to say it included my embarrassment, but what else is new!?

I watched a couple of games of the +40 Mens Nationals a couple of years ago and I am planning on watching the ISC when they come in August. For me, I would rather watch FP softball any day of the week vs. watch a single game of baseball.

 

[Westwind]

I am from the same area MS is from. There used to be several men's teams in this area and in the summer of '85 all my buddies and I graduated from high school and three of them made the switch from baseball to fastpitch. They were all very good bb players and they all said it was much tougher to hit in fp. They played with some of the toughest and most athletic "old dudes" I ever saw. I'm going to give props to one in particular, Merle Prins. He was not a large man but he played well into his 50's. He was a quick, wiry old farmer who was the nicest guy you could ever meet but had a look about him that you knew not to mess with him. He was tough as nails. I clearly remember 18 an 20 something kids in their prime saying how he could easily outplay them and they wouldn't dream of messing with him on their best day. He passed away a couple years ago and he had not played for many years but his name comes up regularly.

They had a good pitcher who I believe taught himself to pitch and he pitched many years. He then taught one of the other guys on the team to pitch. One of the dads on my dd's 10u team played with that team many years later. He is a very accomplished athlete. I can tell you that men's fp attracts a special breed, it could not be farther from what I have seen in sp.

 

[straightleg]

My dad who is in his mid 80's played on the deck of the USS Leyte. He said men from all over the country played and it was real tough competetion.
I guess playing on a moving ship made it a bit more interesting, and a ball off the deck was not coming back.



SL