Pitching analysis 14u Please

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jun 7, 2016
275
43
Concur with DrRiello & Dneeld above. But would frame the cue more as "lean" NOT hinge. Bending at the waist will not alter body position to increase drive effort. She needs to move her body into an "unstable" "h" postion (think wall sprints-see drive mechanics sticky -see also blair luna slow motion on you tube). We call this the "load 'n go" position. It creates the unstable feeling of being ready to fall foward and mentally urges the body to thrust forward.
Ditto about "drive the knee" Think muay Thai knee strike!
Love the fact that she does not "drive to open" her hips but allows the body to react naturally. I believe this conserves A LOT of energy for the forward motion. It is something I still call out DD for (she started with an HE instructor-"Open the hips, clear the lane!, argghh!)
Good work!!!
 
Strong looking kid!! Lots of MPH's still in that body. Keep up the good work.
There is a new thread on may7 potential for injury where they are discussing pitching all out and possibility of injury. Many comments on keep pitching all out. My DD does not pitch all out She is trying to relax shoulder and whip. She seems to muscle up and throw when she tries to throw hard. Does she need to try to pitch harder to find the extra speed. Or keep doing what shes doing until she’s finished growing. In the op videos she is relaxed and can pitch that speed probably 8-10 innings before taking a break.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
She should be pitching as all out as she can without breaking form, aside from drills or just getting lose or whatever. Thing is if you hold back then your drive and arm circle can get out of sync much easier. Now if she can only pitch 90% without breaking form then that is her 100%. Is doesn't do her any good to throw as hard as she possibly can but instilling bad habits with every pitch.
 
Nov 8, 2018
774
63
I agree with DC. my dd will warm up slow and ramp to full pitch. And we throw game speed. Work on tech and movement and location.
For speed days, once per week we will go all out. Hard as
Possible. But that is limited in pitches. It’s just to get her to amp and see what her form would look like and or how fast she can chuck it.
Now some on DFP would say throw 10 hard ones at the end of every session. It’s up to you and her and how she feels. But If your question really was if she should be going full out. Out of control every session I would say no. But I didn’t take it that way.
Game speed if that makes sense. And have speed sessions built In.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My reply was directed more to trying to figure out if Mr Hillhouse meant she could find more speed now or if he meant something to look forward to as she progresses. We are going to be working on the suggestions we got and they are greatly appreciated.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
Not to speak full Bill but the more speed comment isn't usually meant as a throw it harder tomorrow kind of thing...although if their form is really bad you can see instant results from fixing something. Your DD looks pretty fundamentally sound which means increased speed will come incrementally but they should still come...leg drive is usually good place to look, then cleaning up any posture issues, correct arm positioning etc. but as mentioned since most of this stuff looks good for your DD speed increase will come slower IMO. You said she did 2 mph last year and she is at 54...how old is she at that rate...if she wants to pitch in college sounds like she would be around 60 mph...and just because you see the WCWS pitchers around 70...those are the elite of the elite. Plenty of college pitchers throwing in the low 60s.
 

BigSkyHi

All I know is I don't know
Jan 13, 2020
1,385
113
Speed is a hurry up and wait sort of thing. Strength grows with age. She'll be stronger @ 15, 16, 17, 18.......
 
Last edited:
She set her goal to go from 52 to 54 this year and reached it by April mostly due to the QOTH getting her to push back instead of down into the ground. With most of the suggestions being about leaning more and more bend and drive in knee while striding with knee instead of foot we are hoping to find a couple more mph this year if we ever get to start playing again.
 

BigSkyHi

All I know is I don't know
Jan 13, 2020
1,385
113
She set her goal to go from 52 to 54 this year and reached it by April mostly due to the QOTH getting her to push back instead of down into the ground. With most of the suggestions being about leaning more and more bend and drive in knee while striding with knee instead of foot we are hoping to find a couple more mph this year if we ever get to start playing again.
To keep the push back feel, you might consider having her instep on front of rubber when she is pitching due to the various sized holes in front of the rubber during games.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,481
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top