Why move pitching distance?

[HardtailStrat]

You'll find gear heads in all walks of life. From corporate ceo's to the mailman. It's a passion like softball, you get in and get hooked.

I could always start a thread over there and see.

[wadeintothem]

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[emaxos]

I find the NCAA D1 game to be boring and dominated by a few elite pitchers. Getting tired of watching games on TV and seeing the same pitchers game after game. I sometimes wonder if the defenses behind them are really any good since they rarely get any chances.
I have long thought that the college distance should be moved to 46' and some restrictions placed on innings pitched. This would create more offense and force coaches to use some real game strategy thereby making the game more spectator friendly.

[JefferMC]

That inning limit idea might have some impact until all the schools learn that they have to have two dominating pitchers. Or make them play double headers to tire the starters out (though I see enough girls throwing 3 or 4 games in travel ball at 11 or 12 that I'm not sure that'd work).

In our 12U-ish recreational league last spring, there were 5 teams. Each team had a pitcher who was a starting pitcher on a travel ball and/or middle school team. The catch was that while the games were six innings, a pitcher could pitch in a maximum of 4 innings. The games usually hinged on how good the teams' second (or subsequent) string pitcher did that game (or how well the coach was able to strategically put his second pitcher against the bottom of the other team's lineup).

One coach alegedly wasn't aware of this limit during draft and only had one girl who had ever really pitched (and she IS a good pitcher) and he complained the entire season about how unfair the rule was.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by emaxos

I find the NCAA D1 game to be boring and dominated by a few elite pitchers. Getting tired of watching games on TV and seeing the same pitchers game after game. I sometimes wonder if the defenses behind them are really any good since they rarely get any chances.
I have long thought that the college distance should be moved to 46' and some restrictions placed on innings pitched. This would create more offense and force coaches to use some real game strategy thereby making the game more spectator friendly.

You and I must be watching different games. The games I see have the ball put into play frequently, and the defense doing what they are supposed to do, hence the low scores. I am not seeing lots of strike outs. I personally think the college game is doing just fine.

[reccer]

He's watching Cat Osterman. I quit going to the games. The opposition and usually the Horns could not even put the ball in play. Boring ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Move the distance back and lets get some action.
Paste from an article:
Cat’s senior season produced five more no hitters, three of them being perfect games. Osterman opened the 2006 season with six consecutive shut-outs. On February 25th, Cat Osterman struck out six Fresno State batters and seven Lady Rebels to bring her career strikeout total to 1,774 surpassing Courtney Blades as the all-time leader in strikeouts. On April 5th, Cat Osterman struck out five batters to become the first NCAA pitcher, softball or baseball, to reach 2,000 strikeouts for her career.

[Dakota]

And, the fastball is what to Cat? She's a movement pitcher. It is at least arguable that moving the plate back another 3' just gives her more room to work.

[tcannizzo]

I had the pleasure to try to hit a curve ball thrown from 2B by Rich Hoppe of King and His Court. The damned thing went around 3B and then crossed the middle of the plate.

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

I had the pleasure to try to hit a curve ball thrown from 2B by Rich Hoppe of King and His Court. The damned thing went around 3B and then crossed the middle of the plate.

While I never had that pleasure Tony, I did work the plate twice while the King threw. The first time, he was maybe in his early-mid 50's. Even at that age, he was an awesome pitcher. When he was going to throw something strange, the catcher would let me know - I sure appreciated that. When somebody got a loud foul, you could see the face change, the competetive juices start to flow and nobody could touch the ball for a couple of innings. A good friend of mine (much older than me) umped several games between Feigner and Ty Stofflet - the slow guy in those games was around 105.

[GaryBarrentine]

Originally Posted by emaxos

This would create more offense and force coaches to use some real game strategy thereby making the game more spectator friendly.

The following is just my opinion (4 years of coaching experience and a year of umpire experience) and would probably not fly with a lot of people in the game.

To make the game more spectator friendly, to force coaches to use real game strategy, and to make the game a little safer, moving the pitcher's plate back is only part of the equation. To do this properly would require not only moving the pitcher’s plate back, but opening up the field some by extending the base path distances. This would increase the safety factor for pitchers and the corners slightly, it would also tone down some, but not all, of the pitching dominance as the defense would have to work just a little harder.

GaryB

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by GaryBarrentine

The following is just my opinion (4 years of coaching experience and a year of umpire experience) and would probably not fly with a lot of people in the game.

To make the game more spectator friendly, to force coaches to use real game strategy, and to make the game a little safer, moving the pitcher's plate back is only part of the equation. To do this properly would require not only moving the pitcher’s plate back, but opening up the field some by extending the base path distances. This would increase the safety factor for pitchers and the corners slightly, it would also tone down some, but not all, of the pitching dominance as the defense would have to work just a little harder.

GaryB

Actually, I agree.. and thought much the same many times.

The fact is, its not a "little girls" game any more.

When its very common at top levels to see .97 era.. you might have to start thinking outside the box.

Take any top level softball pitcher and they can sit down a pro baseball player time after time.

[JefferMC]

Originally Posted by reccer

Cat’s senior season produced five more no hitters, three of them being perfect games. Osterman opened the 2006 season with six consecutive shut-outs. On February 25th, Cat Osterman struck out six Fresno State batters and seven Lady Rebels to bring her career strikeout total to 1,774 surpassing Courtney Blades as the all-time leader in strikeouts. On April 5th, Cat Osterman struck out five batters to become the first NCAA pitcher, softball or baseball, to reach 2,000 strikeouts for her career.

Assuming that Cat pitched two whole games on 2/25, for the home team, that's be 13 K out of 36 batters (2 games, bottom of 6 innings, 3 batters each) at least 27 apparently hit the ball somewhere.

I still don't see how one person can argue both safety and increased offense in the same breath with respect to moving the rubber back. And I keep hearing it...

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by JefferMC

Assuming that Cat pitched two whole games on 2/25, for the home team, that's be 13 K out of 36 batters (2 games, bottom of 6 innings, 3 batters each) at least 27 apparently hit the ball somewhere.

I still don't see how one person can argue both safety and increased offense in the same breath with respect to moving the rubber back. And I keep hearing it...

It has increased the offense in your standard game. You are using one of the top pitchers in the country as a baseline. That dog don't hunt.

As far as the safety issue, considering the speed of the ball, the movement of the pitcher toward the launch point, I don't think the gain in safety is enough to use as valid reasoning.

[JefferMC]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

It has increased the offense in your standard game. You are using one of the top pitchers in the country as a baseline. That dog don't hunt.

Althought it might not have seemed like it, I agree with you there. I was trying to point out that even she wasn't untouchable. And I also wasn't thinking, if she were the home pitcher, then she was pitching the tops and therefore there were 6 more batters that touched the ball than I said (13K out of 42 batters, for 29 hits/errors/putouts)

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

As far as the safety issue, considering the speed of the ball, the movement of the pitcher toward the launch point, I don't think the gain in safety is enough to use as valid reasoning.

I agree with this 100%. Many point out (accurately, I think) that any increase in reaction time for the pitcher is more than made up for by the increase in reaction time for the batter and the resulting increasted number of hits that the pitcher may need to react to.

[reccer]

You are using one of the top pitchers in the country as a baseline. That dog don't hunt.
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Okay, lets use Alicia Hollowell, In the Championship game of the 2006 College World Series, she struck out 13 (8 looking) The remainder of the outs were 3 foul outs 3 grounders and 2 flies to outfield. Sure, she is another top pitcher, but I could research the stats of the UCLA kid or Arizona State kid or Tennessee kid (we already talked about the Texas kid) and find similar results.

The reality is that each of the major programs has 1 top pitcher and we see the same programs year after year in the women's showcase (nationally televised) tourney. The games are lifeless affairs with the batters helplessly flailing at balls. Games are won, not because of outstanding offensive production (with Michigan the notable exception) but because the losing team boots one more slap bunt than the winner.

Its a boring product. Please fix it.