Pitching: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
/*As published in Fastpitch Magazine
I stood on the mound my sophomore year in college as the opposing team cheered in the dugout. The hitter looked confident strutting up to the batter's box. She took extra time to knock the dirt off of her cleats before she put the bat up to her shoulder. Then she settled in and stared me in the eye. I stood up taller, followed my pre-pitch routine, and delivered my blazing fast curve ball right towards the - “BALL ONE!” Okay, no problem. I bared down, focused on my catcher’s mitt and fired again. “BALL TWO!” Although two balls in a row were not ideal, it is nothing that any good pitcher can not handle. When the next two pitches buzzed in as “BALL THREE!” and “BALL FOUR!” the cheers from the opposing dugout resounded even louder. As the good Brian Cain says, “So what, next pitch,” that saying formulated then in my brain.
Brian wasn’t my favorite sports psychologist quite yet. My thoughts were guiding me to fast failure. I wanted to be successful, and being resilient was a necessity. One walk was not going to define the inning, and I was committed to doing better the second time around. And as the umpire called out “BALL ONE! BALL TWO! BALL THREE! BALL FOUR!” I recognized that I was putting myself and my team in a less than ideal situation. My first reaction was to worry, and I didn’t quite shake that through the next hitter’s at bat. I’m sure you can all guess what happened next. Yep. “BALL FOUR!”
Molier, the great French playwright said, “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”
This became my motto for the rest of my career. It was formed on this sunny day when I was faced with a bases loaded quagmire that I’d created. Every athlete finds themselves in situations that seem bleak. The elite competitors find a solution and thrive under pressure. It is what makes her different than the other talented competitors in the game. I needed to find a way through this bases loaded adversity, for this would not be the last time that I found myself here. After that day I even made up a name for myself. I haven’t revealed until now, so please keep it a secret. Abby “Silent Ace” Hanrahan would pitch, strike a girl out, then turn back to the mound expressionless and proceed to the next faceless victim. My coach said, “Abby, why don’t you show a little emotion out there? Pump your fist when you strike a girl out?” She didn’t know I was jumping with glee on the inside, but needed to keep a presence of mind.
On one hand I walked a whole bunch of batters. So I decided to make the CHOICE to change my mistake into an opportunity. Two more outs later, with the help of our solid infield defense, I had pitched our team out of a bases loaded, no-out jam. This was the start of the personality I was to take on for the rest of my career. It was the pitcher I was to become who would lead my team to a National Title.
Sports psychologists today steer players to be under control emotionally internally and externally. The “Silent Ace” type is quite popular. She's stoic, intimidating, expressionless, and able to leave failures. I’d like to think I was forward-thinking in my pitching mentality. But in reality, to be successful, I couldn't do it any other way. It is up to each one of us to clean up the messes we create. In my mind, that was what I was doing. And in today’s world, it is the best lesson we can teach our young athletes: accountability and resiliency. We will all make mistakes. Own them, understand why they happened, and take corrective action.
A pitcher must look in the mirror and be honest with who she is. Know your strengths and know your weaknesses. Command the “wow” factors that you own and use them to determine your adversity plan. When disaster strikes (and it will), be confident in your strengths to get you out of the jam. For me, my velocity, change of speed, and rise ball/curve ball were better than most other pitchers out there. My accuracy was sporadic. I needed to recognize that when a jam occurred, through poise and presence of mind, I would lead our team to calmer ground. I would use my strengths - not my weaknesses. I attacked with power, movement, and a deceptive change of speed. And it worked. I knew my unique pitching personality, and I encourage all pitchers to find and own theirs as well.
Pitching is not “one-size-fits-all.” Pitchers are different sizes, shapes, speeds, and skill-levels. Movement, velocity, change of speed, and accuracy are all assets that we can master. Most of us will not master all four. Know your strengths, develop your personality, and create an adversity plan. Once you have your plan, be confident in your wow-factors. Allow the most necessary component of a great pitcher lead you out of adversity: poise.
Overcoming those walks back on that sunny day of my sophomore year in college led me to discover a part of my identity that would change me forever. I stopped wishing I would never walk someone. Instead I embraced the confidence that I could strike out the next girl - or three girls out if need be. My identity as a pitcher included more walks than any pitcher would desire to have. But it also included more strike-outs than most pitchers would record. It was my personality, and I owned it. The legacy I own is winning a national championship. And I wasn't perfect in my journy. I simply knew who I wasn’t and I embraced who I was instead.
It’s time to think about your personality as a pitcher. Who are you? What great things make you different than everyone else? Create that adversity plan by focusing on those strengths. Choose your identity and even make up a name for yourself. Then in every game, lifting session, and practice, be that person. It will give you tons of confidence. When you “don’t have it” one day, remember who you are and how you got here, Miss “Drop Ball Dominator.”
