Putting some "stuff" on the fast pitch softball

Novice to fast pitch softball here.
I played baseball in high school.I wasn’t very good.Then slow pitch softball in industrial leagues.
My daughter,14, generally plays 3rd base or short stop on her girls team but this year she is a pitcher. She pitched a pretty good game tonight but lacks knowlege of ball control.
So how about it.Can you throw a fast pitch curve,slider etc?Got any long distance coaching advice?How about a web site on ball control?

They don’t have coaches to give her tips?You can put "stuff"on a softball,just like a baseball.

For a beginner a good pitch (assuming she doesn’t have a 2 3 or 4 pitch) yet,is to throw the ball with fingers pointing towards the batter instead of palm front.We used to call it a “spinner”.These pitches lead to many popups (waist to chest high)or grounders (below waist) because of the spin.For curves/drop you grip the ball sorta like a bowling ball with your thumb to the 1st base side the fingers towards 3rd base,then either release it like a spinner,or with a twist of the wrist (with your thumb pointing at the batter-then twist left or right) on delivery.

Keep your pitching hand in your glove as long as possible before delivery-come to think of it a 14 yr.old batter probably isn’t conscious of what a pitchers’going to throw anyway-so maybe you don’t have to worry abt.tipping off the pitch.

These just fundamentals-it’s hard to show someone how to pitch a ball by writing about it-and I know of no sites that can help you.

Practice.Remember at her age the important thing is throw strikes.If she can do that with a little mustard on the ball she’ll blow it by most of the kids. :slight_smile:

I know softball uses a totally different pitching motion than baseball, but you might want to be careful teaching a youngster curveballs, sliders, etc. This might not apply to softball, but it baseball it can be very dangerous for young kids to throw those kinds of pitches. It creates a lot of strain on the arm (those kids throwing sliders at 12 in the Little League World Series are probably going to be in a world of hurt soon).

Again, that’s in baseball. Softball could be very different.