Male and female pitching speeds.

[Hillhouse]

Screwball.. nobody can deny that men have more strength in most cases. But if you are talking about the ELITE pitchers in men's softball, not the city league ones in your local town, you will see the mechanics are identical to those of the elite women. Yes, I know... the old timers that your referring to were the best in the world at the height of their careers. (It seems everyone claims the old timers in their area(s) were the "best"). City league champions of yesteryear seem to think they pitched at levels and heights they didn't.

The bottom line is, having strength doesn't mean the mechanics are correct. Male or female.

 

[sluggers]

I suspect that the top end for a woman is going to be 75 or 76 MPH. Over the 20 years or so I've been following softball, pitching speeds have crept up. In 1995, it was rare to seen any woman throwing 62+ mph. Today, there are lots of women pitchers throwing 65+ mph, with some women throwing over 70 mph. If the trend continues, I bet we are going to be seeing 75 MPH pitching in five to ten years.

It seems everyone claims the old timers in their area(s) were the "best"

Generally, in any sport, the elite players of today are as good as the elite players of any other era. It is the quality of the second tier players that is different.

Second tier players in football and basketball today could mop the floor with the second tier players of ten years ago. The second tier players of baseball today couldn't even make a AAA team in the 1960s.

 

[CoachFP]

Sluggers, I guess you are right about the second tier players of yesterday not being as good as the second tier players of today. I am sure it is based on scientific fact, especially when the top tiers are equal. Read what you post before you hit the Reply button.

 

[Ken Krause]

Actually, most of the female athletes of yesterday tell me the same thing. They are amazed at how much better the young players of today are than the players they played with. Most see skills in a 14U player that used to take until college to gain.

 

[sluggers]

My DD says the same thing--there are many more good softball players today than there were 10 years ago.

What is odd is that that the *teams* generally are not as good today as they were 10 years ago. There are so many teams, that the talent is really watered down.

 

[starsnuffer]

Think of how good the male pitchers would be if they grew up playing travel softball and had a plethora of great coaches and personal coaches to learn from. Most of the "greats" were self taught or learned by picking things up by watching. I do know a few PC's now who have a male student or two, but they're few and far between and most of them just want to learn to pitch good enough to relieve their aging cadre of starting pitchers.

-W

 

[Lozza]

Have a look on YouTube for the Australian and New Zealand pitchers. Those are the types of players you're talking about starsnuffer. You play either baseball or softball here. You will occasionally have some boys who cross over as teenagers but that's rare. Usually the sport they start with is the sport they end up in.

 

[starsnuffer]

Have a look on YouTube for the Australian and New Zealand pitchers. Those are the types of players you're talking about starsnuffer. You play either baseball or softball here. You will occasionally have some boys who cross over as teenagers but that's rare. Usually the sport they start with is the sport they end up in.

You're right, Lozza. I keep forgetting that men's softball is so much more popular and supported down there, it's no wonder why the latest generation of "greats" comes from that part of the world. We can't overlook the fact that people like Bill Hillhouse et all contributed so much of their time to make that happen and plant the seeds, but clearly in the US the focus is on the girls. I don't know of a single youth boys fastpitch program in the US, do you?

-Ww

 

[crystlemc]

You're right, Lozza. I keep forgetting that men's softball is so much more popular and supported down there, it's no wonder why the latest generation of "greats" comes from that part of the world. We can't overlook the fact that people like Bill Hillhouse et all contributed so much of their time to make that happen and plant the seeds, but clearly in the US the focus is on the girls. I don't know of a single youth boys fastpitch program in the US, do you?

-Ww

» Blog Archive » 19th Annual Missouri Boys’ High School Fastpitch Tournament – Oct 2-3 – Chillicothe, Missouri

 

[Lozza]

We can't overlook the fact that people like Bill Hillhouse et all contributed so much of their time to make that happen and plant the seeds,

Sorry are you saying here, or in America Bill's planted the seeds?