Louisville Slugger Blue Flame?
- Thread starter Ken B
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Jan 30, 2010
- 75
- 0
We use this for quick hitting reps on the field and fun games at the end of practice.
Blue Flame
Hey Ken,
It's not a bad little machine with both pros and cons. On the upside, it you can dial it in to about an 8 inch square range so that it throws mostly strikes but mixes in a few that are a bit off. I think this is a good thing in that it does not groove every pitch, your kids will still need to find the ball. This is probably due to using different brands of balls with differing seams, weights, etc. Also it is very portable and easy to adjust once you get the hang of it. Any adult can operate it effectively, probably most kids over say the age of 12 or so. Throws wiffles, lite flite, dimples, sting free and regular softballs (that I have tried) effectively.
It does have a pronounced backspin for better or for worse. The ball moves a lot if you pitch into the wind. It does release the ball in an overhand motion and does come down to the batter. Not a whole lot different than most of the 10U pitchers in our league. Of course you can only pitch one ball at a time (no autofeeder). Getting the hang of set-up (adjusting speed and distance) takes a while but then is pretty quick.
I used to use it a lot with my daughter but I just decided to practice my slingshot motion and now I can throw about 80% strikes from 35 feet at 35-40 mph so I don't use it that much anymore although I loan it out frequently.
Best of luck,
Jeff
Hey Ken,
It's not a bad little machine with both pros and cons. On the upside, it you can dial it in to about an 8 inch square range so that it throws mostly strikes but mixes in a few that are a bit off. I think this is a good thing in that it does not groove every pitch, your kids will still need to find the ball. This is probably due to using different brands of balls with differing seams, weights, etc. Also it is very portable and easy to adjust once you get the hang of it. Any adult can operate it effectively, probably most kids over say the age of 12 or so. Throws wiffles, lite flite, dimples, sting free and regular softballs (that I have tried) effectively.
It does have a pronounced backspin for better or for worse. The ball moves a lot if you pitch into the wind. It does release the ball in an overhand motion and does come down to the batter. Not a whole lot different than most of the 10U pitchers in our league. Of course you can only pitch one ball at a time (no autofeeder). Getting the hang of set-up (adjusting speed and distance) takes a while but then is pretty quick.
I used to use it a lot with my daughter but I just decided to practice my slingshot motion and now I can throw about 80% strikes from 35 feet at 35-40 mph so I don't use it that much anymore although I loan it out frequently.
Best of luck,
Jeff
