on joan joyces interviews she states that she felt it was easier to throw the rise ball slingshot rather than windmill, and she felt you could also throw harder slingshot, is this just her own preference or is it generally easier to throw harder slingshot, and why has everyone went away from it.
slingshot speed
- Thread starter wannahit
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
The "leap and drag" killed slingshot pitching. A pitcher is getting five to 6 feet close to the batter with a leap and drag, so that reduces the reaction time of a batter by 10%.
I doubt the slingshot pitcher throws faster than a windmill pitcher.
I doubt the slingshot pitcher throws faster than a windmill pitcher.
My opinion would be when Joan Joyce was pitching, most girls of that era were just trying to throw strikes and placing and pushing the ball. I have an old VCR tape of an instructor demonstrating the windmill motion and he is showing the girls how to push the ball to the plate. The slingshot does create a lot of velocity and promotes a whipping motion. I feel that there is a reason that overwhelmingly pitchers today throw with the windmill motion. Someone mentioned in an earlier thread that Joyce was clocked @ 118 mph.(Oceanfront property in South Dakota if interested, contact me) Eddie Feigner was supposedly clocked @ 104 mph according to an appearance he made on "The Johnny Carson Show". I personally believe the windmill generates more speed.
Last edited:
Joan Joyce could just do a lot of things that most women cannot. I imagine that her OH throw was in the 60s, too.
The slingshot pitch is fine and is generally as fast (w/i 2-3 miles) as the windmill. It is one of the things that the men incorporated into the game and wanted the girls to do it, too.
I would love to teach a girl to sling shot the ball. I would teach her for free, but I don't know how to find that girl, that wants to be different, questioned and challenged all of the time. I do have one little girl throwing it, but she is a maverick at about everything and doesn't want any coaching.
Clock a girl's Power Ks and then, her regular fast ball. That will answer some of your questions.
The slingshot pitch is fine and is generally as fast (w/i 2-3 miles) as the windmill. It is one of the things that the men incorporated into the game and wanted the girls to do it, too.
I would love to teach a girl to sling shot the ball. I would teach her for free, but I don't know how to find that girl, that wants to be different, questioned and challenged all of the time. I do have one little girl throwing it, but she is a maverick at about everything and doesn't want any coaching.
Clock a girl's Power Ks and then, her regular fast ball. That will answer some of your questions.
Striking out pro baseball players is a parlor trick. The technique is to get a baseball player who has never seen a fastpitch pitcher and throw him rise balls. Since he has been trained to look for a release point above a pitcher's head, he has trouble on the first couple of pitches in finding the ball. His swing is on a plane to hit an overhand baseball pitch, so when he does swing, he won't get close. If the baseball players get a little training in how to track a fastpitch ball and alter their swing angles, they hammer a women's fastpitch pitcher.
Last edited:
- Jul 26, 2010
- 3,553
- 0
Joan Joyce is a hero and a trailblazer. It's better to take that for what it is instead of break down semantics in hindsight.
The speeds and whatnot are crazy, but you have to give the sportscasters credit for doing as well with their abacus to calculate the speed as they did.
-W
The speeds and whatnot are crazy, but you have to give the sportscasters credit for doing as well with their abacus to calculate the speed as they did.
-W
You don't throw harder slingshot style. You are somewhere between 90-95% of your max speed in windmilling. Anyone who thinks a windmiller can throw harder is incorrect. Also, slingshotting came before windmilling because of the figure 8 motion that was basically the first way the men threw. Then it evolved from there. Slingshotting can be effective because the release point is lower and therefore the riseball can have a different look. You can also hide the ball somewhat more effectively if you work at it. It takes a lot of effort to throw in this fashion if you want to be good at it.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,637
- 0
In the mid and late 60's I was the batboy for my Dad's FP team. They playe league once a week and many tournaments in the season. There were a couple of slingshot pitchers imn their legue and always a few in thew tourneys. They were all older men and by the mid 70[s, I dont remember seeing them anymore.
I asked several of them about their style of pitching. Some called it 'Slingshot', some called it 'Submarine style'. They said it originated during WWII. Guys in the Submarine Corps that played baseball wanted to practice their 'Craft'. But, with low roofs and pipes hanging down they had to come with some other form, thus, the Submarine style was born and you still occassionally see a Submarine style pitcher on MLB teams.
There was also softball players on the subs that had to come up with something different they couls use on board to practice. What they came up with was the same thing the baseball players came up with, the Submarine style also wrked well foi fastpitch.
Several of those 'Old timers' were nice enough to give3 a young up and coming pitcher a few minutes to talk and give me some pointers.Afew of them called it 'Submarine style' and some called it 'Softball Submarine; style. #What the submarine style guys also told me was that the timing was difficult to master. If you were not in sync, you could hurt your shoulder pretty quickly. It had to be very VERY smooth. I tried many times ti immitate what I saw with that one and never got that smooth feeling they described. It didnt feel right or even safe so I gave up on that one.
Now the other old timers they threw with what they called the 'Softball Submarine'. This was a sort of hybrid between L and D and submarine. I caught onto that one VERY quickly and could soon throw it with every bit of speed as my windmill pitch..
I taught the softball submarine to all my students along with the L and D.
The old timers that used these back then threw with what seemed to be every bit as much speed as most of the L and D men, at least it looked that way to this young kid. They DEFINITELY had every bit as much movement. In fact, a couple of them had a pitch each that had TREMENDOUS movement on the riseball.
Using both windmill and softball submarine styles against every batter, switching back and form, will totally cripple the best hitting line ups you will face. It destroys the batter's timing of the pitcher's motions. Your team will love it but the other team will hate it!
It's in my book.
Hal
I asked several of them about their style of pitching. Some called it 'Slingshot', some called it 'Submarine style'. They said it originated during WWII. Guys in the Submarine Corps that played baseball wanted to practice their 'Craft'. But, with low roofs and pipes hanging down they had to come with some other form, thus, the Submarine style was born and you still occassionally see a Submarine style pitcher on MLB teams.
There was also softball players on the subs that had to come up with something different they couls use on board to practice. What they came up with was the same thing the baseball players came up with, the Submarine style also wrked well foi fastpitch.
Several of those 'Old timers' were nice enough to give3 a young up and coming pitcher a few minutes to talk and give me some pointers.Afew of them called it 'Submarine style' and some called it 'Softball Submarine; style. #What the submarine style guys also told me was that the timing was difficult to master. If you were not in sync, you could hurt your shoulder pretty quickly. It had to be very VERY smooth. I tried many times ti immitate what I saw with that one and never got that smooth feeling they described. It didnt feel right or even safe so I gave up on that one.
Now the other old timers they threw with what they called the 'Softball Submarine'. This was a sort of hybrid between L and D and submarine. I caught onto that one VERY quickly and could soon throw it with every bit of speed as my windmill pitch..
I taught the softball submarine to all my students along with the L and D.
The old timers that used these back then threw with what seemed to be every bit as much speed as most of the L and D men, at least it looked that way to this young kid. They DEFINITELY had every bit as much movement. In fact, a couple of them had a pitch each that had TREMENDOUS movement on the riseball.
Using both windmill and softball submarine styles against every batter, switching back and form, will totally cripple the best hitting line ups you will face. It destroys the batter's timing of the pitcher's motions. Your team will love it but the other team will hate it!
It's in my book.
Hal
I saw a lot of sling-shotters when I was young. I didn't understand the nuances, but I had impressions. I learned to pitch sling-shot and vacillated at times between the two systems. The only advantage I can see now in a sling-shot is the hand and ball orientation is easier to feel and find at the top of the back-swing; making some moving pitches easier to learn or feel. If you think about it, it is the same as the half-circle drills pitchers warm up doing, with a swing back, cocked, stride, and throw.
Men sling-shot because they could do the leap forward, re-plant, and then throw. I eventually gave it up.
Kudos to sluggers post #2. He is right on the money for womens pitchers. And I agree about the speed issue. Windmill is more complex, and bad mechanics can either slow down the pitch speed or reduce capacity for increased or correct spin.
Men sling-shot because they could do the leap forward, re-plant, and then throw. I eventually gave it up.
Kudos to sluggers post #2. He is right on the money for womens pitchers. And I agree about the speed issue. Windmill is more complex, and bad mechanics can either slow down the pitch speed or reduce capacity for increased or correct spin.
Hal, by pitching definitions, is a "sling-shot" even legal any more?
Similar threads
