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Originally Posted by gogobal
The distance being the SAME, I am writing an article with Softball FAQ and cannot find the information any where on the Internet. I have asked several people, umpires, coaches, directors etc and everyone agrees that their is a calcualtion but no one seems to know the answer. Thanks Any Way.
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The distance is
NOT the same. Softball is pitched at 40' or 53' or 46' or whatever. Baseball is pitched at 60'. But a SB moving at 55mph at any distance is moving at the same speed as a BB thrown at 55mp, regardless of the distance. Duh!
What you need to do is ask the right question. You are looking for reaction time; how much time does a SB batter have to see the pitch vs a BB batter with a ball thrown at an
equivalent speed. Your question should be:
If a softball traveling at 55mp pitched from 40' gets to the plate in X seconds, what speed does a baseball travel to get to the plate in the same time.
So: SB at 55mph X 5,280'/3600 sec = 80.67 f/s /40' = 2.02 sec X 60' X 3600 / 5280 = 82.5mph BB pitch.
However - a SB pitcher will release the pitch 5' to 7' in front of the plate, while a BB pitcher releases the pitch 3' to 4' in front of the plate. A SB batter stands in the front of the box while a BB batter stands in back, another 5' difference.
So you need to compare a SB traveling about 32' vs a BB traveling about 58'.
Simple ratio, as NewNCref noted: 55 / 32 x 58 =
99.7 mph.
OK?
WMB