Softball - You Wish You Could Throw Like a Girl!

Women'sFastpitch Softball pitching is fun to watch... If you tuned in to the College Softball World Series you saw former major leaguer John Kruk try and hit a Michelle Smith rise-ball.. Now clearly Kruk isn't in playing shape and I would think it would be safe to assume that he's not taking swings in the cage everyday like he did when he was an active player, but this experiment has been done countless times with major league hitters and to a person with the same results. Why? Because while the reaction time to hitting a major league fastball and a fastpitch softball are similar the big difference in my opinion is how the ball moves. Baseball pitchers throw overhand from a mound, so all of their pitches have downward movement. Softball pitchers throw underhand and off of a level surface, and can actually throw a pitch that rises unlike anything you'll see on a baseball field.

I'm sure that these great major league hitters would figure it out if they saw enough Fastpitch Softball pitching over time, but it always makes for fun viewing when one of these stud hitters face an elite softball pitcher for the first time.... advantage Softball pitcher everytime!!

A world class female Softball pitcher who throws a 68mph pitch released at 38 ft would allow the hitter .381 of a second to react, which equates to a 95 MPH pitch in baseball. Let's compare, who would you rather face one of these girls or one of these boys....

Monica Abbott set the record for the most strikeouts in a Division I softball season and became the NCAA Division I Softball all-time leader in career wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, games started and games pitched.

Five time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson's 4,680 strikeouts are first all-time among left-handed pitchers.

Clearly the the game of Women's Softball is earning the respect of the general sports fan across the country, as evident by the exposure that ESPN is giving it. These women are tremendous role models for the hundreds of thousands of young girls playing the game who have the aspirations of one day playing at that level.

Let's all do all part to keep Softball an Olympic Sport, and the next time someone tells you that you throw like a girl.... take it as a compliment..

And remember Softball is game for everyone.. Fastpitch Softball is for athletes!!