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The Best Pitch in Fastpitch Softball Pitching:
The best pitch as far as fastpitch softball pitching goes is highly debatable. A large majority will argue that a riseball thrown correctly is the most dominant pitch in fastpitch softball. Others will say it's the change up because disrupting timing is so important. Then you have those who believe that the drop ball is the best pitch in fastpitch pitching. I think that it really depends on what level of play you're talking about. For example; from about 10U to 14U the change up is in my opinion the most dominant fastpitch pitch assuming you have a decent fastball. I think the reason is because young kids are so busy trying to catch up to fastballs that seem overwhelming to them at that age. To do this they develop the habit of starting their swing very early which causes them to look very bad on a change up. From 16U to 18U I believe the most dominant pitch is the riseball. If a fastpitch pitcher in this age group can put backspin on a ball with decent speed she can get a large percentage of batters to whiff. You will even see hitters swing underneath riseballs that are straight and flat. The main reason for this is because they expect the ball to be lower. Hitters see so many fastballs that their brain becomes programmed to expect the ball to take a certain path. Even if a riseball hangs and doesn't move up it still fools the hitter because they expect it to drop a little. Also, even though you begin to see many more home runs at the 16U to 18U level, most of them do not have the power to get underneath the ball and still hit it out. Now for the college level of fastpitch pitching. At the college level I believe that the best pitch is a really good dropball. You could make a strong argument that the best pitch is still a really good riseball, however, if you look at the NCAA statistics you will see that pitchers who were know for their riseball give up a ton of home runs. Hitters at the college level can hit pop ups out of the yard. You won't get away with near as many hanging riseballs as you will in the younger age groups. If you have a really good dropball you can be very effective in college. At least when hitters make solid contact the ball will not leave the yard. Lots and lots of ground ball outs is what you will get with a good dropball. If you have a great dropball you can strikeout just as many batters as you would with a riseball. And, if you can get a great rise, a great drop, and a great change, the Olympic team might ring your phone.

Increasing Pitching Speed:
One of the most commonly asked questions from parents of fastpitch softball pitchers is "how do I help my daughter increase her pitching speed". This is especially true of the younger age groups. The reason is because parents haven't yet figured out that they are going to need a lot more than a really good fastball to survive in the older age groups. We are as guilty of it as anyone else. When my younger sister was between the ages of 10 and 13, increasing her pitching speed was just about the only thing I was concerned with. Anyhow, I figured I would share one of the best ways to pick up some extra speed on a straight fastball. The Pitcher's Harness is one of the best ways to do this. It is simply a belt that has a very strong, long elastic cord attached to it. Whenever my sister would train to pick up a few miles an hour we would do the following workout at the end of her pitching session. First, she would throw two sets of 10 pitches while pushing out against the resistance of the cord. Then she would do another two sets of 10 pitches with the cord pulling her through. In other words, the cord was stretched out in front of her and assisted the arm, drag, etc. During the resistance part of the workout her speed would be much slower than normal as you would expect. During the assistance part of the workout her speed would be about 2-3 miles an hour faster than her normal pitching speed. During the assistance part of the workout you can see the arm speed pick up which accounts for the increase in speed. Check out the Pitcher's Harness in the shopping cart. In over 15 years of trying everything under the sun to increase pitching speed it is one of the absolute best ways to accomplish the task.

What's better, movement or speed:
We are constantly being asked, "what's more important to have, speed or movement". The answer is very simple, BOTH! If you have a lot of speed but not much movement you are going to get hit hard. Now, of course there are flame throwers in the 10's and maybe even some 12's that can blow straight heat past batters. However, past those age groups heat with no movement gets hammered. On the flip side, what if you have a lot of movement but no speed. This can be equally as bad as having speed only. If you do not compliment the movement with some speed what happens is that batters can track the ball. They pick up the movement and are able to adjust and once again you are getting hit hard. A slow curveball or dropball will have that long sweeping bend to it instead of a late sharp break. What really dominates batters is a combination of movement and speed. You don't have to be the absolute fastest by any means. All you need to be is fast enough to get a late tight break on the ball. In my opinion pitchers should be striving to throw breaking pitches at the highest rate of speed possible. But don't forget that the faster you try to throw your movement pitches the more likely you are to lose your spin. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be able to throw fast movement pitches with the proper spin which of course explains why so few do it. Those who do go on to set all the records and the record setters are never the fastest but rather they have the fastest movement pitches with correct rotation.

Close the hips or keep them open?
I hear people debating all the time on whether a fastpitch pitcher should close the hips or keep them open. When my sister was about 9 years old she began taking pitching lessons. Her first pitching coach always told her to "Close your hips", he harped on that constantly. She would try so hard to close her hips but every time she tried harder her ball would go to the left (she's a lefty). When that would happen he would blame it on her hips being late or not closing hard enough. Well, to make a long story short, and after years of developing this extremely bad habit we finally figured out that the reason her ball was going to her left was because her hips were TOO EARLY! Her hips were actually getting in the way of her arm causing the ball to shoot off to her left. I am now totally convinced that the hips should be open while the arm is coming though the release point. Maybe they can finish at a 45 once the ball is gone but at release I believe they should be open. This really has a huge affect on your movement pitches. It is impossible to throw a riseball with the hips closing before release. It is also much easier to get the correct rotation on the curve ball with the hips open at release. In short, if your hips are closing too early try keeping them open while you practice for a few days and see if you don't notice a big difference in your movement and control.