To step back off the mound or not?

[GatorGirl]

So we have always learned that both feet must start in contact with the mound. Last night at our practice, several of the other girls who wanted to pitch and a few that had some go right where they needed to we all stepping back off the mound. I thought this was illegal and asked another coach who's daughter plays travel--we are Little League. He thought it was an illegal pitch as well.

I know stepping back gives a huge advantage--Hillhouse even said so at a lesson and he predicted it would eventually be a legal pitch.

So we looked it up in the umpire books and this was the page. It says you can step back. I am perplexed. Do we try it for the advantage or stick with what we have been doing? What is your interpretation of the rule? Looking at G and A.R.

 

[33pitchfast]

I know here in Indiana they are allowed to step like that in high school. College ball they are not, nor in the 3 bigger sanction travel ball. Would like to know what book you are looking at.

 

[quincy]

HS that is allowed.

Your DD is better not doing it if she pitches on other Teams.

(A couple years ago DD was under a lot of stress, other Team’s parents yelling at her and calling her names, etc. In hindsight we should of just went home. Anyways because of the stress she started to take a step back off the plate which was illegal were she was playing)

 

[GatorGirl]

It is the Little League 2015 Softball Rule book. It is tough because I don't want her to not be able to pitch because other girls are and "appear" to throw harder. IDK....honestly she isn't going to play travel and high school is pretty iffy really. She likes to play, but the practices are so tedious and boring for her when she isn't constantly doing something.

I will just leave it. She pitches pretty good for a part-time 10 year old in my book and she is a lefty. If they don't let her pitch, its their loss.

 

[sleepwalker]

I think all beginning pitchers should be allowed to step back off of the rubber with their stride foot. Stepping back allows the pitcher to transfer all of her weight to her eventual stride foot and then allows her to get a good load on her pivot(drive) foot. It is a lot more natural than what is occuring when the girls are forced to keep both feet on the rubber and trying to load their pivot(drive) foot. Heck, most of the younger and some of the older girls never figure out how to load their drive foot.

I also think that girls in high school that keep both feet on the rubber because of ASA, USSSA or because of college aspirations are missing the boat. I think that most high school girls would get a more efficient and powerful load if they transferred all of their weight off of their drive foot by stepping back and then stepping forward to load their drive foot.

Stepping back off of the rubber in girls softball is similar to throwing out of the wind up in baseball. Baseball pitchers take a step backwards in order to take all of their weight off of their drive foot and then load their drive foot to get a very effecient load. That little forward momentum that is built up prior to loading the drive foot is more efficient than trying to explode off of the rubber from and standing(still) position.

Over the years, as I've coached softball from the rec leagues to the travel leagues, I have always petitioned that girls should be able to step back off of the rubber when pitching girls fastpitch. Men have been pitching like that in ASA for as long as I can remember. So why the two rule sets for men and women? Men are usually stronger, so why allow them the greater advantage? The reality is that maybe the fastpitch softball rule books were written by men, who never pitched or taught pitching and don't understand or care about the increased difficulty of pitching created by requiring both feet in contact with the rubber for a pitcher.

In my opinion, the person who wrote the rules above for the above league understands fastpitch softball pitching and is a genius. Teach the pitchers to step back and take the weight off of their drive foot and then step forward and load their drive foot and push off of the rubber. Teach the girls to pitch just like we teach the boys in little league. We teach the boys to throw out of the wind up because it is the most efficient way to load the drive foot and get the momentum heading towards home. Show me a team in little league that is teaching their pitchers to pitch out of the stretch and I will show you an unsuccessful pitching staff in little league baseball. In essence, that is what we are doing with our dd's in girls fastpitch softball, we are teaching them to throw out of the stretch before teaching them to throw out of the wind up.

 

[GatorGirl]

So is it worth the risk to try and change her? Is there a way to sneak it in so she doesn't really see a change except for her performance. I just don't want to start back at square one right before the season starts after 18 months of doing it one way.

If anyone has a thought on how to introduce this simply without it seeming like a major change, I would be all ears and most appreciative.

 

[Ken Krause]

Take a look at Javasource's sticky thread and then introduce it as a drill to help her get more weight transfer. So instead of changing you're just trying something. If it works, stay with it. If not, let it go.

Look at the video in post #78 here: http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18135-drive-mechanics-8.html

 

[GatorGirl]

Thanks Ken. A little long to study right now, but I will get to it tomorrow. I def. think OIL could have a point about consistency. So if the balls start going everywhere, i'll bag it. We have finally got to the point where we can practice with 2-3 balls instead of 20 so it should be pretty easy to see after a couple of rounds of throwing.

 

[smddad]

Little League, NFHS and USSSA all allow the step back.

 

[quincy]

I would also do some walk up drills.

At least for DD she picked right on stepping back, getting her to stop it was the hard part.