Speed of softball pitch

[prekowski]

Linknblue. That is interesting because I did the exact same thing, I built a rig that was 6 ft to 10 ft with PVC and then experimented with it to see how high those pitches really are. I proved that it was nearly impossible to throw a pitch lower than 6 ft and have it hit the mat without it being an extremely high velocity. I was an umpire at the time so in addition to using it for my own education, I wanted to show umpires of our league who had a tendency to call 6 to 7 ft pitches illegal. I have since gone back to playing and it is the same umpires minus me. They still are terrible at allowing 6 ft to 7 ft pitches without calling them illegal. It is because other pitches who have not perfected the pitch height like I have never pitch at the lower limits, so the umpires call them illegal because it is not the norm. It frustrates me to no end since I am now a pitcher who practices both ends of the strike zone, high and low and have become proficient at it by hours of practice. Furthermore, on the backstop there is a horizontal bar that is 6 ft high. I am 6 ft 2. When I release the ball and am trying to pitch to the lower limit, I watch the ball and if I can see the bar under the ball, I know for a fact it is at least 6 ft high. I called an umpire out to the mound before the game when I was practice pitching and asked him to just watch and see what I see, i.e. if you can see the bar under the ball, it has to be over 6 ft. This umpire proceeded to tell me, that it does not matter about the height even if it hits above 6 ft, because I will call it illegal because it is too fast which is my prerogative to call. How can you even argue with someone who has that kind of logic?