Fast Pitch.

[DatDuke]

Hello forum, I dont want to sound Sexist. Is it true that FP Softball are played majority by Female? (I know it sounds general and sexist), My reason of asking is I am trying to see if the fast pitch Softball pattern are design mainly for female's hand size and shape. But I think the only gloves that are FP specific are Softball Catcher Mitts. The IF and OF softball gloves do not have that distinction. Am I correct? Thanks for the info. in advance. Sorry, never threw a Softball in my life. And now I am going to play in a Weekend Beer SB Warrior/Drunks league. Yeepee!

 

[Rous]

In highschool and college (NCAA), overwhelmingly men play baseball and women play fastpitch softball (if there are high schools or colleges with women's baseball teams or men's fastpitch softball teams, I'd love to know it). I know there are adult men's fastpitch leagues, but that is a relatively small portion of adult softballers (I think).

Where I live (Dallas), there is select or club boys baseball teams/leagues and girls fastpitch softball teams/leagues. Again, if there are other alternatives out there, I'd like to know it.

So, given all that, marketers generally distinguish their models with smaller hand stalls by calling them fastpitch gloves and they generally market them to girls/women. Nokona no longer puts the word "fastpitch" on their gloves, they just designate them as having Velcro or not. Although they do have a "fastpitch" section on the website. They also have a "slowpitch" section which includes the Velcro strap models.

 

[DatDuke]

Thanks Rous. I do have small lady like hands with no Callus, and I find most baseball gloves fit me quite loose. But the Marucci Founder 12.75 Black and my Reebok PI are my few exceptions.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Yes, men play fastpitch at a very high level. Google or YouTube Adam Folkard or Bill Hillhouse. My DD has a pitching coach from Ohio and we're in NC. I think men's FP is "mostly" or was mostly a Northern and West coast thing, I've never personally seen it here in NC or at least not in my area. Her pitching coach in the day traveled all over the country. BTW Folkard has been clocked at 84 mph from 46', that's equivalent to the upper 90's in baseball with movement that's just stupid!!!

Rous is right about the gloves, while some baseball gloves have velcro, nearly 100% of FP gloves have velcro, my DD uses a custom Vinci baseball glove that Rous has worked on. I hate velcro, it's almost always the first thing to break on a FP glove, that's why we went with a baseball glove and I'm starting to see more girls go that route at the level she plays. Stiffer higher quality gloves with NO velcro = baseball gloves. I know a lot of guys here are not crazy about Vinci gloves but their dual welted baseball gloves (example RV1961-L) make excellent FP gloves because the finger stalls are so tight when new that they actually fit girls.

 

[DatDuke]

Wow.. you just opened up my eyes. Thanks for the great info. First time saw a FSB pitch by Men. Such Nasty. Those Risers are deadly.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Yeah, some of these softballer studs here who have never tried to hit a really good rise ball pitcher should try it if they get the chance, very humbling and embarrassing to swing at and miss a ball that was JUST there!

 

[Drumbum37]

Thanks Rous. I do have small lady like hands with no Callus, and I find most baseball gloves fit me quite loose. But the Marucci Founder 12.75 Black and my Reebok PI are my few exceptions.

I'm with ya on most gloves being too big with the small hands but mine are quite callused over from almost 20 years of playing drums. I've found MIJ wilsons and mizunos are the best fitting for me.

And as you've found out, mens fastpitch is pretty nasty! The city where I used to play sp quite a bit hosted the world championships maybe 6 or 8 years ago and we watched a few games. That was redonkulous!

 

[DatDuke]

I believe the skill that is require to play FPS is so high, thus the reason they are not more popular across the State. We leave this high skill game to the ladies. It is impossible to drink beer and play FPS at the same time, that is how SPS is invented.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Back in the day I was the living example of your last sentence!! Now I'm just dad living through my DD and love watching her and her team play, they're good! We've played in 6 different states in the last 8 weeks.

 

[etnstudios]

84 mph from 46' should actually be 109 mph or so.

 

[bigmac25]

I couldnt find a hardball team for one summer in my late 20's and got n offer to play fast pitch.
Like you, i didnt know it existed but MAN that was a crazy summer of ball. Like people mentioned, its back asswards because the ball rises.
Also, playing 1st base I'll admit that at first it took a ton of getting used to being that close. First few smashes my way scared the crap out of me. It took a few weeks to adjust for sure, but in the end I quite enjoyed it and still fill in from time to time when my hardball team and umpiring schedule permits. If you ever get the opportunity to give it a whirl and the team isnt super competitive go for it. You'd enjoy it.
Good god, some of those ringers though... living in Buffalo some guys from Canada come down who are sponsored to beat up on or play with teams in the area and THAT is fun to watch!!!

 

[DatDuke]

84 mph from 46' should actually be 109 mph or so.

And all that cheddar!

 

[moren025]

I played a variation of Fast pitch softball in the late 80s-early 90s while in the military for a couple of seasons. Due to injury liability, we couldn't play baseball and then fast pitch was outlawed. Trying to remember what the dimensions were for pitcher/bases. I'll have to ask one of my former shipmates.
Facing a rise ball was interesting but there was a older gentleman who had a heck of a knuckleball. Damn did that thing dance.

 

[ANNASDAD]

My dad was stationed in Korea in 1953-54, he was a pretty good baseball player and played league softball after he got out of the Army. He's told me this story at least 100 times so it's changed a little over the years......While in Korea he had this Asian guy from California in his platoon, one day this guy comes up to my dad and ask him if he'd like to play some softball, dads like sure! And to hear him tell it my dad was first up to bat, he said this guy threw a ball by him so fast he didn't even see it! WTH was that? A softball is supposed to be lobbed 10/12 feet in the air! That was his introduction to fastpitch. As I said in my earlier post we're from NC and I've never seen men's FP where we live so I know my dad had no idea what it was in 1953-54.

 

[DatDuke]

Some great stories were told. Thanks for the feedback. The main reason I asked was to figure out what are the different between a FP softball Mitt vs all the others. But instead, we have started these interesting stories on a game that is rarely played in the state, def. an eyes opener.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Well to answer that in a nutshell, velcro and smaller hand stalls, and where 98% of them are bought from ****'s. Except for the loyal following of Vinci fans on Discussfastpitch.com!

 

[etnstudios]

Some great stories were told. Thanks for the feedback. The main reason I asked was to figure out what are the different between a FP softball Mitt vs all the others. But instead, we have started these interesting stories on a game that is rarely played in the state, def. an eyes opener.

and nobody even mentioned the King and his Court

 

[csk415]

and nobody even mentioned the King and his Court

King and his court are something to watch.
Have a couple of old timers around here that pitched FP in Oklahoma back in day. Instead of tossing their warmup pitches they would throw some heat for fun. The whole team were older guys and would beat the lips of pretty much anybody.

 

[DatDuke]

Oh my gosh.. I just youtubed them up and that is some good ole american fun.

 

[Wally Gator]

I think I saw Rawlings just released a new line of fastpitch gloves.

 

[DatDuke]

Thx wally.. will pay attention. You know the grade level? We don't need another Walmart special.

 

[Wally Gator]

HOH and Liberty. Hudsonsport has a few on the bay. Some conventional, some with what looked like a tie strap or velcro.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Worth is getting out of the fastpitch game (so I've heard) and Rawlings bought Worth (also what I've heard) so that's why I've been seeing so many new Rawlings bats, college & professional. You know as far as 3 years ago I asked why Rawlings was missing out so much on the FP market? They've just recently jumped in with both feet! Very good reviews on the new Rawlings Quatro bat.

 

[bigmac25]

Worth is getting out of the fastpitch game (so I've heard) and Rawlings bought Worth (also what I've heard) so that's why I've been seeing so many new Rawlings bats, college & professional. You know as far as 3 years ago I asked why Rawlings was missing out so much on the FP market? They've just recently jumped in with both feet! Very good reviews on the new Rawlings Quatro bat.

Rawlings has owned Worth for years. Its the reason some of those old Worth Ranger gloves are so sweet. Essentially HOH's in disguise. Nice pieces.
I think Rawlings just wanted to consolidate lines and bring some credibility to their SB line and a way to do that was concentrate their resources on the main brand. There was a post in another thread with a link to a forum where they were noting all the bats and gloves etc that had been supplied by the sponsor Worth (in their tourneys) were rawlings this year. They even noted a few continued to use their worth but stuck some rawlings logos on em.

 

[DatDuke]

Is worth still the dominate softball equipment supplier in the US? If they are out of the Softball business, what are they going to do? Slow pitch? This tells me there is a clear distinction between the 2 and worth is getting away from fast. Or they see no different and will continue to sell the same gear to fast and slow alike.

 

[bigmac25]

Is worth still the dominate softball equipment supplier in the US? If they are out of the Softball business, what are they going to do? Slow pitch? This tells me there is a clear distinction between the 2 and worth is getting away from fast. Or they see no different and will continue to sell the same gear to fast and slow alike.

no idea... I'd ASSUME they will still keep the brand alive and produce lower end stuff... I just feel like Rawlings wants it to be known that the Worth marketshare for competitive or high end softball stuff is really theirs. I believe Rawlings was just purchased Newell, which might own Jarden too? I wouldnt be surprised if the recent quality uptick and changes were spurred by new ownership.