Speed of softball pitch

[Tru_in_Blu]

Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve

The science is actually pretty simple. It doesn't matter if a batter stands in the front of the box or the back of the box, the strike zone is the space over home plate. Surely you don't think the zone moves back and forth with the batters, there is a consistent distance from the pitcher's plate to the plate that pitchers pitch to.

So ignore where the ball is when it passes the batter in front (or back); a strike can be over the head in the front of the box (or below the knee in the back of the box), as long as it crosses some part of the plate at an appropriate height.

I worded that poorly. Yes the strike zone is over the plate.

In a modified-pitch game, the strike zone is armpits to top of the knees. In slow pitch, it's the front knee to the back shoulder.

So can a pitcher throwing a 10 to 12 foot arc pitch manage to throw a pitch that would be ruled a fast pitch strike? I.E. could it manage to cross the plate at a height that would be at or below the armpits? Clearly, if the ball hits the plate, it's a ball.

Not sure what the average distance is between the armpit and top of the shoulder. Maybe 6 inches?

I find calling those type of pitches from the guys that throw slow, loopy pitches more difficult than from pitchers who can generate a little speed. The loopy pitch crosses the plate at eye-level and ends up in the catcher's glove about belt high. And the pitchers are whining to get that call because of where it ended up.