With a four-seam grip, you will find a “C” along the seams of the ball. When using a two-seam grip, you will look for the vertical seams that are parallel to each other. It depends on a couple of things within their natural tendencies. Again, slight variations based on build and her movement patterns. The main difference between CB 1 and CB 2 is the seam position.
There are dozens of successful pitchers throwing different ways. Pitching is perhaps the most crucial position in softball. The pitching motion and mechanics are so different from baseball that it is no wonder that every year there is confusion as to what constitutes a legal or illegal pitch. It becomes even more complex when you consider that Little League has a couple of rules that are different from high school and other youth softball associations. A pitcher throws a splitter by gripping the ball with his two fingers “split” on opposite sides of the ball.
When we do clinics and I have one of my great riseball pitchers there, we will ask a catcher who has never worked with that pitcher to put on the gear and catch her riseball. The catcher will step forward with confidence and proceed to miss several pitches which are headed right at her mitt and then jump over it. I always tease them a bit and say, “I thought you had caught riseballs before”. They say something like, “I have caught riseballs, but I never saw anything like that”. Most people have never seen a real riseball, but simply a pitch thrown uphill.
This allows them to work together, as a unit, to turn inward on the ball, to make it sink and run. The grip, shown below, is really a hybrid between the “circle” change and other grips. But today, we’ll bust some changeup myths and give you all the tools to throw a great one.
Throwing a drop pitch is essential in fast-pitch softball. Pitchers tend to dominate fast-pitch softball because they have an array of pitches, including the fastball, the rise ball and the change up. However, the drop is probably the most important pitch besides the fastball. The drop pitch will sink as it approaches the batter and it will produce groundball outs, which will help the pitcher seize control of the game.
This pitch gave him a great career and fooled many hitters. A forkball pitch is hard to hit because of the extreme drop of the ball and the pitcher’s ability to disguise the pitch as a fastball. Hitters have a certain way they swing at fastballs versus off-speed pitches, so the best pitchers can keep changing speeds to confuse hitters. A forkball is best thrown in place of a curveball or slider.
This is crucial, as yes, any changeup grip could work, but not all grips will help a pitcher easily spin the ball and produce excellent movement. But with a changeup, the feedback I give while playing catch with a pitcher is different. I don’t use a radar gun most of the time, and they won’t have access to one either. We go by spin, how it comes out of their hand, their arm action and speed, etc.
Hold the ball with just your index and middle fingers, or add your ring and pinky fingers to the grip to modify this pitch. Throw this forcibly as you would catcher tips softball with a fastball, but whip the ball out of your hand at the end with a snap of your wrist. Cover up the holes with your middle finger for a 12-6 curveball.