interesting finding....

[tmolina]

I was practicing pitching yesterday with my DD and I told her I was going to throw a ball back at her as soon as the pitched ball she threw to me hit my glove. So she can practice a batted ball hit back to her. Well it turned out that in the process of doing this she started throwing with more velocity and better control...So I kept doing it and we found out that when she was anticipating a ball coming back to her she was following thru to get in a defensive position and it was helping her finishing her pitches....

 

[sluggers]

Yes, that will work. My DD and I referred to it as "rapid fire". I believe Amy uses something similar.

The pitcher throws the ball, the catcher is standing and receives the ball, and immediately throws the ball back to the pitcher. The pitcher starts her pitching motion *AS SOON AS THE BALL HITS HER GLOVE*. This continues until either the catcher or pitcher throw one away. If the catcher and pitcher aren't sweating at the end of this, you aren't working hard enough.

My DD could only do about 2 throws in succession when she first started, but after a year got up to 80.

 

[Mark H]

I was practicing pitching yesterday with my DD and I told her I was going to throw a ball back at her as soon as the pitched ball she threw to me hit my glove. So she can practice a batted ball hit back to her. Well it turned out that in the process of doing this she started throwing with more velocity and better control...So I kept doing it and we found out that when she was anticipating a ball coming back to her she was following thru to get in a defensive position and it was helping her finishing her pitches....

Learning automaticity in a physical skill is a funny thing. I've seen something like what you describe in multiple sports where getting the conscious brain to focus on a secondary task resulted in a very positive outcome in terms of developing fluidity and expertise in the primary skill.

 

[Izzy's Dad]

My DD's pitching coach does 3 sets of 10 of these, at the last part of her lesson. Calls them speed pitches. I find it does increase her velocity and control. I think it is because she doesn't have to "think" about pitching, just throw it as fast as you can, for 3 sets of 10.