Softball Pitching Rules Clarifications
In makes sense to say that overhand motion can be more dangerous for shoulders and elbows, but that doesn’t mean underhand is free from its own challenges and dangers. Given all that I just discussed above, it makes sense that we see many pitchers with back and hip injuries, in addition to shoulder and elbow. They have to move through more planes of motion while opposing gravity more. Softball pitchers throw underhand for a couple of different reasons.
Pitcher with greater trunk flexion and rotation towards the throwing arm side, with back slightly towards the target. The significant relationships found between pitching mechanics and ball velocity only occurred at the trunk, which may highlight the importance of utilizing the trunk to propel the upper extremity in dynamic movements. Most baseball leagues, especially at youth level, have a limited number of innings in which the same pitcher can throw. As most baseball pitchers can testify, this is a real problem and the reason why they don’t pitch the whole game and usually have a few days of rest between going on the field. Pro pitchers in baseball can throw 100 mph pitches, but their softball colleagues are not too far behind. One of the reasons why the pitchers can be so dominant is that, unlike in baseball, softball teams can usually keep their star pitcher on the field for the whole game.
The pitcher shall not deliberately drop, roll, or bounce the ball in order to prevent the batter from hitting it. The delivery must be an underhanded motion with the hand aztec pitching machine below the hip and the wrist not farther from the body than the elbow. The pitcher must not make a stop or reversal of the forward motion after separating the hands.
Women’s softball pitchers opt for an underhand pitch because this motion is more accommodating to newer players. It creates less strain on the elbow and shoulders, and the motion lends itself best to the bigger shape and size of the softball. It is considered the de facto standard for pitching in women’s softball. There is a general belief that softball players have far less risk for injury. The softball pitching motion, it is said, is more natural for the arm.
The participants were from a relatively small geographic area. These results may not apply to all youth softball pitchers. A convenience sample of participants were recruited and the sample size was moderate. Additionally, these participants were in Little League softball’s youngest divisional levels that allow youth to pitch.
Understanding the pitching kinematics of individuals in the youngest division of Little League Softball can be of benefit to not only sports medicine personnel, but also training/conditioning specialist as well as pitching coaches. The LPHC is the connecting link of the lower extremity to the upper extremity for efficient transfer of energy. Focus on LPHC stability as well as postural control could ultimately assist in not only pitching performance but also injury prevention in youth softball pitchers.