Softball pitches leave the hand of the pitcher at around 60 mph for college and pro players, 50 mph for high schoolers and in the 30s and 40s for younger players. In rare cases, such as for breakout Olympian Jennie Finch, a softball pitcher can hit 71 mph. You can measure a pitcher's speed to see how she ranks. Stand directly behind home plate to get an accurate reading that doesn't require a later arithmetic adjustment.
Step 1
Hold up a pocket radar unit so its back is pointing toward the pitcher's mound for a simple way to measure softball pitch speed. Press and release the unit's red button when the pitcher is partway through the throwing motion, before the pitch is released. Read the peak speed listed on the LCD. Read the previous 10 speed readings by pressing the small black recall button.
Step 2
Enter the distance from the mound to home plate in the Baseball Speed app loaded on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad for another way to record pitch speeds. Press the software's button-shaped graphic to start recording pitch speeds. Read the pitching speed displayed in miles per hour.
Step 3
Turn on your radar gun and squeeze the trigger for an especially precise way of measuring pitch speeds. Consult the sticker on the bottom of the gun body or the instruction manual for how to operate the setup menu. Enter the speed range of the balls you want to clock, typically 25 to 100 mph for softballs. Set the resolution at "whole." Place the "peak hold" button to show only the peak speed, that is, the release speed of the ball, rather than continuously showing speed changes as the ball travels to the plate.
Tips and Warnings
- Modify your reading to account for any error introduced by measuring at an angle to the pitch. For example, if you read a softball pitch speed at 50 mph while you are clocking at a 30-degree angle, divide 50 by the cosine of 30 degrees (0.866) to get your correct speed of 57.7 mph.
References
- USA Today; Softball's Jennie Finch Ready to Make Her Pitch; Bruce Horovitz; August 2004
- Softball Sales: How to Measure a Baseball or Softball Pitch with the Pocket Radar
- Network World; Play iBall! Awesome iPhone and iPad Baseball Apps; Keith Shaw; April 2010
- Stalker Radar: Stalker Sport Digital Sports Radar Owner's Manual
- Optics Planet.com: Bushnell Speedster Speed Gun Instruction Manual
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