A Fastpitch Softball pitcher unlike that of a baseball pitcher must have a consistent arm slot when releasing the pitch as indentified in the USSA rule book as:

Rule 7. Pitching Rule

F. A LEGAL DELIVERY - shall be a pitched ball that is delivered to the batter with an underhand motion.

a. The release of the ball and the follow-through of the hand and wrist must be forwarded past the vertical line of the body.

b. The hand shall be below the hip and the wrist not farther from the body than the elbow.

c. The pitch is completed with a step toward the batter.

This same explanation will be found in the ASA Fastpitch Softball rule book as well.

Let me show you how you can improve your fastpitch softball hitting by understanding this rule. This is the first part of two part series that will focus on the release point of the fastpitch softball pitcher and understanding how the pitch will move from this release point.

Whether you desire to be a left handed slap hitter, or a right handed power hitter understanding the fastpitch softball pitchers release point will enable you to improve your fastpitch softball hitting skills.

I've asked many young softball hitters what they're looking at when they step into the batters box and you'd be surprised with the answers that are given. More kids particularly the younger 10 to 12 and even to the 14 year old age group are watching the entire pitcher or the pitchers entire pitching motion prior to her delivering the pitch.

As the pitchers develop in these age groups this is a tremendous advantage for the pitcher because the hitter isn't picking up the pitched ball until its a quarter or half way to home plate.

When you understand item B in the rule as it's outlined above you can see that a fastpitch softball pitcher unlike the baseball pitcher must release the ball from a certain arm position on every pitch, whether right handed or left handed it will becoming just off of the thigh.

I call this the 36 inch rule of fastpitch softball when someone is trying to convince me that their kid should be a switch hitter, not a slap hitter but a switch hitter in the Mickey Mantel or for a more contemporary player Lance Bergman sense of the word. I'll discuss the pros and cons of softball switch hitting as I see them in future posts.

Understanding that this is where the pitch will be coming from and teaching the kids to only look in this area while they're at bat will increase their odds of a successful at bat. We should be teaching our kids this very basic fundamental of the at bat as soon as they begin to see live fastpitch softball pitching.

Reinforcing that by focusing in on the release point of the pitch we'll see the ball longer enhancing our opportunities of making contact with the pitch. Additionally as the young hitter develops and trains themselves to only watch the release point of the pitcher during each at bat, our next focus will be zeroing in their eyes on the rotation of the pitch so that they'll have an understanding of what the pitcher is trying to throw and the movement of that particular pitch as it comes towards home plate.

Again like switch hitting we'll go deeper into recognizing rotation of the pitch in future posts.

While the opposing pitcher is going through her warm ups in between innings, or while our hitters are on deck waiting for their turn to hit we should teach them to be looking for that particular pitchers release point, once they step into the batters box this is all they are focusing on.

If it's a left handed pitcher we're teaching them to pick up the release point off of the left thigh, if it's a right handed pitcher we're picking up the release point off of the right thigh.

We're paying zero attention to the gyrations of the wind up of the pitcher, other than recognizing that the pitching process has started and the ball will soon becoming out of the identified release area towards home plate..

I hope you young hitters and parents of young softball hitters found this to be helpful.

As I said earlier whether you're learning how to slap hit or becoming a power hitter using some of the best softball bats on the market today, training yourself to pick up the pitchers release point will make the game of fastpitch softball much more enjoyable.

Until next time remember softball is for everyone... Fastpitch softball is for athletes...