Do we really need to learn all these pitch types

I may be hijacking, so apologies in advance but...
DD (RHP) was asked to learn screwball. Coach explained we were looking for the ball to (optimally) spin horizontally from the catchers right side to left (or clockwise if catcher could pull a Matrix and stand up and watch ball go thru her legs.
During the week after the lesson, I pondered how an IR pitcher could pull the ball down, brush, then make the ball spin the opposite way the forearm naturally rotates and still maintain some semblance or speed. I could not do it in slo-mo, DD could not do it without moving torso/hips out of way and twisting arm coutner to IR. She had some effectiveness reverting back to HE (open, clear hips etc). I talked her into dropping this pitch.
Am I misunderstanding the concept of screwball? (permission to be candid in your assessment of my knowledge..LOL)

I talked her into dropping this pitch.
Am I misunderstanding the concept of screwball? (permission to be candid in your assessment of my knowledge..LOL)

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No.

This is going to get real technical real fast...

If you look on youtube through the hundreds of videos on "how to throw a screwball" and you won't see any of the pitches with the 3-6 rotation. (There is one video of a man throwing the ball at 30MPH getting screwball rotation on the pitch.)

What is generally called a "screwball" is simply a "step, throw right" with bullet spin on the ball. The batter is seeing a pitch starting from a different location and thus moving at a different angle. Because of the bullet spin, the ball behaves differently than a fastball with top spin. The pitch doesn't have any horizontal movement (horizontal movement defined as variance from the ball's initial trajectory).

There was a pitcher from U of Florida was very effective with the pitch. The softball community went "screwball" crazy. Next year, the NCAA started enforcing the pitching lane, which stopped pitchers from taking a huge step to the left, and the pitch became much less effective.

That being said:

There is a way to get some left-right movement by slightly varying the rotational axis of a pitch. This is done by varying the finger pressure on the ball at release.

Riseball can explain the nuances better than me.

Sluggers,
Thanks for your reply. she is working on a 2 seam FB which does break, mostly inside (RHP) but has on occasion gone outside. She cannot tell me what she does when I see this in practice. Can be very frustrating to see it move and not duplicate consistently!

marriard said:

The problem with riseballs is that when they get hit they tend to go far - and against good opponents that means over the fence. It doesn't even have to be a bad riseball - good hitters have a chance of barrelling up even a good pitch. There is a lot less room for error in close games.

From Bill Hillhouse:
"Whomever calls pitches for Alabama lives in dangerous waters. My rule of thumb is, with a 1 run lead there is no such thing in my arsenal as a riseball after the 5th inning. Riseballs, flat ones and good ones that were simply connected, will go out of the park more often that drop balls with good or poor movement. If I'm winning 3-1 and nobody is on base... ok, I'll dangle a few. But once a runner hits base, it's drop city and change up all day long (especially if the change up has downward spin and/or is kept low)."

I also find that a lot of riseball pitchers who throw it a lot often end up down in the count as you throw a lot of pitches out of the zone and high. That means occasionally you have to bring the ball into the zone more often.

Every pitch has it's downfall - this is the riseball's one.

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Here’s the problem with Hillhouse’s advice, it’s not practical for most pitchers to stop throwing the rise especially if its their best pitch. Case in point, D’s high school team in this week’s game went 12 innings and they won 1-0. Their #1 pitcher’s best pitch is her riseball, she throws it at least 2/3 of the time and in this game she threw 172 pitches, struck out 17, gave up only 6 hits, and zero runs. She probably threw 70 riseballs AFTER the 5th inning when the game was tied 0-0. It worked out for her. Had she stuck to the advice “don’t throw the rise at all after the 5th in a close game” who knows what the outcome would have been?

diamond14 said:

Sluggers,
Thanks for your reply. she is working on a 2 seam FB which does break, mostly inside (RHP) but has on occasion gone outside. She cannot tell me what she does when I see this in practice. Can be very frustrating to see it move and not duplicate consistently!

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What is "really happening" is she is varying her fingertip pressure on the ball at release, making the ball "squirt" out of her hand, which ends up changing the rotation axis, which ends up make the ball tail in or tail away from the batter.

Have her focus on her finger tip pressure on the ball at release.

Here is the thread to read about how to throw the two-seamer:

https://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/22765-two-seamers.html

I was a "non believer" about the efficacy of the two seam fastball when the above thread was written. I was wrong.