Set Yourself up for Power

Everyone wants to pitch faster. In fact, speed matters a lot to college coaches. Kaci Clark Zerbe says in The Fastpitch Book, "Ask yourself when you last saw a pitcher in the WCWS throwing 54 miles an hour? You can succeed at the college level throwing less than 60, it's getting recruited that can be difficult...the speed of your pitch is a combination of how strong you are and how fast you move." If it was about how big you were, then Amanda Scarborough (5'6") and Gina Oaks (5'3") would not have thrown over 65 mph.  

Here is where being a multi-sport athlete will develop you as a pitcher. Some of the quickest pitchers I see run track or play basketball, among other sports. I don't think many softball coaches work on developing power and fast twitch muscle fibers due to time restraints and lack of knowledge.  Therefore, you are on your own.

In addition to physical training, you need to put your body in a position that allows you to be explosive. You also need to harness that explosiveness. Here's a question. When you hit are you standing with your legs bent, weight slightly back? Or is your weight on your front leg? They are bent with your weight back! Your stride/front leg is straight and harnessing the momentum from your push-off and arm circle. Below is an example of a pitching position that loads your back hip and arm circle, instead of disabling it. We always work on this in lessons with the Roeser drill, Snow Pump drill, and video. The sooner you accomplish this as a pitcher, the sooner the speed will come.