softball pitching

[Guest wilstu]

is it legal for a woman softball pitcher make a very loud grunt with  every pitch ,,it is very distracting for batter and to watch

[LMSANS]

Yes it is legal...and very common.

[MT73]

 As is slapping the glove against her thigh.

[beerguy55]

13 hours ago, Guest wilstu said:

is it legal for a woman softball pitcher make a very loud grunt with  every pitch ,,it is very distracting for batter and to watch

It's legal - and even if there is some question to intent you're not gonna see a single umpire do anything about it on any level.

My response to my players - if you don't like it I've got some girls sitting on the bench who would gladly go to the plate and deal with the grunting.

However, on the other side, I view this as gamesmanship.  I believe most of these girls are doing it to distract the batter, not for the zen/martial arts excuse most coaches come up with.  And it's rarely a natural result of exertion - it's forced.   I had one season where we played 90 games, probably faced 30-40 different teams, and possibly 100 different pitchers - all season we saw three grunters - and they all played on the same team...they were obviously coached that way.

So, under gamesmanship, I think anything goes.  If you need to put that kind of petty crap into your repertoire to get some kind of advantage, then you're gonna have to expect to have some petty crap thrown back at you.   They are still kids...and kids will be kids.

[Rich Ives]

You want to exhale sharply on exertion on an effort like a pitch or tennis serve.  In something like skiing you want to exhale on the compression move and inhale on the "up" move. It helps - try it.

Grunting seems to have started in tennis where players were taught to grunt so the would be sure to be exhaling on the serve.  It was a big issue there at first also.

[Mudisfun]

I think this falls right up there with 'but they are stealing signs!'... well do a better job of hiding or changing signs.

Pitchers grunt sometimes... I have yet to have one grunt so hard and loud that it distracted me behind the plate so I find it hard to imagine that it will really distract a batter who is focused on the pitch... maybe the first time just out of surprise but after that? The uniqueness should be worn off.

Kind of bush but nothing patently illegal.

[Guest MacMillan17]

It is legal!!! In fact my daughter is a pitcher for 12U. She has been grunting  since the day she picked up a softball to pitch.  My daughter does it for 2 reasons. And 1 is not to distract the batter in anyway.  1) it is her timing mechanism, like many  pitchers slap the front or back of their leg with their glove. 2) we’ve noticed that it gives her a few more MPH on her fastball.  It Allows her to exhale and give everything she’s got into every pitch. Kind of like a bodybuilder or power lifter when they are lifting heavy.  Now, she prob doesn’t need to grunt on her off speed pitches, but then the batter might know what pitch is coming if she didn’t do it all the time.  Many college pitchers do it, and my daughters fav pitcher (Kelly Barnhill) does it, and she figures, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for her.  It has nothing to do with gameship, or trying to be unsportsmanlike.  Besides, her grunting is nothing compared to what opposing girls and parents say about players to try and through them off their game!!!  

[The Man in Blue]

Not near as common as it used to be.  Thankfully many people have realized how tacky and bush league it is.

Sorry, no 10u, 12u, or even 14u throws hard enough to make herself grunt.  It is a taught tactic.

It is not illegal, but I did once ask a coach to tell the pitcher to knock it off.  She had no clue what she was doing and was grunting as she started her windup, before she brought her hands together, after the pitch, and completely random and inconsistent moments.  He said her pitching coach taught her that and asked if it was illegal, I said “No, but it’s annoying.”  I am friends with the coach.  It was annoying to him too, so he told her I said it was illegal.

 

[Jimurray]

2 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Not near as common as it used to be.  Thankfully many people have realized how tacky and bush league it is.

Sorry, no 10u, 12u, or even 14u throws hard enough to make herself grunt.  It is a taught tactic.

It is not illegal, but I did once ask a coach to tell the pitcher to knock it off.  She had no clue what she was doing and was grunting as she started her windup, before she brought her hands together, after the pitch, and completely random and inconsistent moments.  He said her pitching coach taught her that and asked if it was illegal, I said “No, but it’s annoying.”  I am friends with the coach.  It was annoying to him too, so he told her I said it was illegal.

 

Totally off topic. R2 clapping. Between innings, coach stop the clapping. Coach: Why is it against the rules?  Me: no it’s annoying me.