Pitcher touching her face?

[zaboha]

I have to agree with chinamigarden and crabby_Bob. I have seen softballs with different covers (i.e. leather vs. vinyl) fly very differently. We used to run a manual pitching machine (Louisville - Blue Flame) in 10U and I would get close to 1 foot of drop at the plate from 35 feet just by using a leather ball versus a vinyl covered one. Also a new ball introduced would have similar behavior until it got scuffed up adding to the drag.

 

[Ajaywill]

Changes the drag coefficient in that region of the ball. If you can cause a change between laminar and turbulent flow, the effect can be large.

It's much more effective in baseball with the smaller ball. In order for doctoring to have an impact with a 12 inch softball, the velocity the ball is thrown needs to be exponentially higher than in baseball.

 

[Changeupmom]

My dd just picked up licking her fingers this year, she's a senior. I see know difference in her pitches, just the dirty spot on her pants where she wipes off her fingers. Habitual now, lets see what her college coach does next year.

 

[Crabby_Bob]

It's much more effective in baseball with the smaller ball. In order for doctoring to have an impact with a 12 inch softball, the velocity the ball is thrown needs to be exponentially higher than in baseball.

Not saying you're wrong... the relevant quantity is the density of the ball, and lo, the softball is less dense than a baseball. Wiffle balls, volley balls, beach balls, etc., vividly demonstrate the effect.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Changes the drag coefficient in that region of the ball. If you can cause a change between laminar and turbulent flow, the effect can be large.

At 12U, you're either throwing REALLY hard or you gotta use A LOT of spit to make a pitched ball change it's trajectory!

 

[SoCal_Dad]

There isn't nearly as much difference in density between a baseball and softball as there is with wiffles, vballs, etc.

The larger surface area of a softball lessens the influence along with the typically lower velocity.