HINTS ON SOFTBALL

Chronicle (Levin), 28 December 1946, Page 3

HINTS ON SOFTBALL

Sot'tbull lias c omo to stay in Isew Zealaml sport. Now tliat il 1ms begun to be played extensivoly in schools, tlie accoinpauyiug notes on the art of pitvliing may prove of use to players taking up the gaiue. Men and women of widely varying physiques have beeoine great aottiiall pitvhers. Tail, sliort, fat and lean, the game has had its ahuru of headliners who iit all these deseriptiou.s. But here are some tlnngs yuu inust have: — 1. Coutroi. 2. Speecl. 3. Curves. 4. Cliange of pace. 5. Abiiity to lield. 6. kiore eontrol. 7. Courage. S. Full knowledge of tlie pitching ruJos. 1U. And still niore eontrol. All sot'tbull pitching is done with auj uuderhand delivery. The wholo c.ssencej of the game is built aronnd this oue, phaso. Before going into the details of j pitching, read thoroughly Ihe olHeialj rule eovering the delivery of tlie bull toi the batter frulc -S in the offieial .soi'tball' rule book). Without knowing the pitching rule you cannot Be a soi'tball pitcher. Study every detail of tho rule. No amount of brilliant pitching cau ' olfsot the penalty for iliegal pitelies, on eaeli of which the base runiiers advuucej one base. A ball is ealled on the batter, too, I'or each iliegal pitch, unless lu* hits it t'airly. lf-ho hits a i'oul it is still" fctilfed'W '' ' bttU. Wind ITp The simplest nielho.d of delivering the ball lo a batter is to draw baek tlie hand aud let Hy. But that would -be like mauiui l'ront heaven i'or the miui at the plale. L'nless Ihe pitcher posSessed uiiraculous spced Ihe batter wduld liit liard aud oi'len. for there wduld be uo wind-up to distract his atlention aud liiake it difficult i'or him to follow the flight of the ball. 'Ihe wind-up'is oue of the best assets of a pitcher, aud it is worth while to deveiop a good deal of practice to Ihe iuasteriug of a Irieky, deeeptive stvlu of delivery. iMuke sure it is legal, however. The rules permit any kind of wind-up, but generally thev l'all into two classiiieat 1011s — the wiudmill and the ligure eight. Winclinill Wind-up The principul deception about this type of delivery is tliat the batter does uot kiiow on which swing of the arm he will have to liit at the ball. The maia steps in the wiudmill delivery are: — 1. Piave your feet squarely on the plate a foot apart, or as close to tliat as is eomfortable. ilold the ball 'in both liands, with tho arms resting lightly against the liips. 2. Swing Ihe arm forward and up. llring the left foot off the plate as Ihe ball reaehes Ihe highest po.int on the swing, during which the ball is to be delivered to the batter. Ivcep the elbow straighl. 3. Bring the ball baekward and dowu. 4. As the ball leaves the hand, shift tlie weiglit from the right to tho left foot (assuining tliat you are righthunded). The right foot breaks coutact with the pitcher 's plate. 5. Follow th rough, your liand eon tinuing to travel in a line paraliel to the ground. Don't try to bring the hand baek to shoulder heiglit in the i'ollow-through, as it makes it ditlieult to eontrol. Delivering tlie Ball It will be noticed tliat, i£ your I'ollowthrough is done corroctly, you will Be in position to feel Ihe Ball as soon as it has left your liand. This is iniportaut, particuiarly in the preseiit-day type of soi'tball, in which bunting is beconiing niore and more frequenl. You inust alsu be familiar with other lielding principles, sucli as eovering and back-ing-up bases. A fast ball, slow ball, upshoot, drop, ineurve and outcurve are the principal stock-in-trade of a soi'tball pitcher. As in the hardball game, it is possible sometimes to deveiop a freak pitch of some sort, but that is a matter of iudividual abiiity. A.li sliould be pilched from the same stance and with the sauie kind of delivery to be eil'ective. Otherwise the batsnian can quickly deLect the variations and discover the type of ball he is about to reccivc. Wlieu tlie ball has been delivered .and has not been liit, contipue to be alert. Iteturn to the pitcher 's plate as quickly as possible to prevent base-ruuners from attempting to steal, and bc especially vvatchful with a man on third wlien the catcher returns the ball. The rules permit a runner to attempt scoring on such a tlirow-baok, and the b.ises are just Close enough together so that this daring inanoeuvre may be successful if either pitcher or catcher f.- lls asleep for even an insfanh