OSU v. Florida--the three HR pitches

[sluggers]

If you have a DVR and want to run it back:

1st Inning: OSU's Sam Show hit first HR. Pitch was a corkscrew rise that was about 1/2 ball off the plate, but around chest high. The pitch was not a mistake. Great hitting by Show.

2nd inning: FU's Robert hit HR. Pitch was a mistake. It was a drop ball that ended up too high. According to my DD, the release point was late, causing the ball to be way up in the zone.

6th inning: OSU's Sam Show hit another HR. Pitch was a mistake. The pitch was a corkscrew rise that ended up arm pit high over the middle of the plate.

It looks like Barnill was throwing a backspin rise which was ending up way outside the zone. Barnhill also threw a corkscrew rise which tends to be lower in the zone, around the arm pits.

My guess is that Show was sitting on the corkscrew rise.

 

[coachbubbles]

Who doesn’t love the bat flip/slam!?!?

 

[twoplacesatonce]

Who doesn’t love the bat flip/slam!?!?

Me. Too deliberate

 

[sjw62000]

Who doesn’t love the bat flip/slam!?!?

I love it. You're the underdog. You had to beat the defending champs to get here. You're not even supposed to be in the WCWS. You're facing one of the best pitchers in D1 and you just hit a dinger. A bat flip isn't enough, but a bat slam, maybe that's the answer.

 

[riseball]

Based on her body language you could see that Barnhill was done after the 2nd dinger. Hopefully the ESPN love affair with her will come to a end soon as the Gators fold and go home If she does make the Olympic squad it will only further diminish the game as her inclusion would certainly not be based on merit.

 

[ArmWhip]

I find it interesting that most of the slo-mo replays show pitches that are variations on bullet spin. I don't think I have seen one straight top spin pitch. Oklahoma's lefty with the curveball shows the spin to be 45 degree tipped bullet-curve.

 

[4KidsDad]

Who doesn’t love the bat flip/slam!?!?

There was a special segment before the game on that exact issue...between those exact girls-Barnhill and Show.

How ironic it was the game winner!

 

[sluggers]

I find it interesting that most of the slo-mo replays show pitches that are variations on bullet spin.

Sam Show throws a 12-6 drop. So far, she is the only pitcher I've seen with a "traditional" movement pitch.

Barnhill can throw a traditional 6-12 rise. I'm assuming that the ones that are six inches over the batters head are the 12-6 rise. She doesn't seem to have the control over it she had in the past, possibly due to her modifying her motion.

Oklahoma's lefty with the curveball shows the spin to be 45 degree tipped bullet-curve

@riseball "revealed" that type of pitch a few years ago. He is the first person I know of who explained how to throw it.

There are two basic types of breaking pitches:

1) The "traditional" pitch, based on the Magnus effect. These are the 12-6 drop or the 6-12 rise. Without getting too technical, the spin of the ball is in the direction of the pitch, causing the ball to break.

2) The "finger pressure" pitches ( "seam orientation" pitches). If you throw a ball so that, in flight, the seams are more prevalent on one side of the ball, then the ball will break toward that side. This is the "stuck wheel on shopping cart" movement.

Like a shopping cart with a stuck wheel, the side of the ball with more seams will have more drag than the other. One side of the ball is slower than the other side, and thus the ball breaks.

IMHO, a lot PCs are teaching breaking pitches wrong.

It would be much, much easier to teach a kid to throw a bullet spin pitch and then work on finger pressure. A pitcher could then get the ball to move in different directions.

Compared to a 12-6 drop or a 6-12 rise, the pitch won't have as much movement. But, a pitcher could actually achieve more break horizontally than with a traditional curveball and the non-existent screwball.

 

[Rambler34]

Based on her body language you could see that Barnhill was done after the 2nd dinger. Hopefully the ESPN love affair with her will come to a end soon as the Gators fold and go home If she does make the Olympic squad it will only further diminish the game as her inclusion would certainly not be based on merit.

I will just be glad she is gone so we can move on from the complaints about the illegal pitches that are not called.

 

[OsDad]

It's worth finding the Oklahoma State softball facebook page and following and finding their "This is Sportcenter" spoofs they've done about her bat-flipping.