[Linknblue]

I put on a demonstration of slowpitch pitch heights a few years ago to show new/stubborn umpires what legal pitches actually look like. 10' was easy....but the 6' pitch proved something like you're saying. It ain't physically possible that we observed for a pitch to touch the 6' height and be too fast. It simply has to be a certain speed or it won't hit the mat. You slow the speed you miss in front, you speed up and it misses long. We didn't have anything to measure the actual speed but it surely wasn't too fast to catch batters off guard.

Now if you are calling a zone, the pitch can be faster because the ball has to pass thru a zone irrespective of where it lands.....it can land 4 feet long and still be a strike. I can see where "speed" can be an issue....not from a hitting standpoint though.

I'm with you, the excessive speed thing in ASA doesn't make a lot of sense....at least to me.