This rule change was hidden among a mundane list adopted by the Amateur Softball Association for 2010:
The pitching arc height for All Divisions of Slow Pitch is now 6-10 feet.
This is going to be a reasonably big change for most of us in ASA-dominated Idaho. Pitchers were smart to use as much of the previous 12-foot limit as they could. Bringing it down to 10 feet also brings the ASA upper limit in alignment with both the National Softball Association (NSA) and the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA).
I want to hear what you think about it. My feeling is that a lower pitch height leads to more hard-hit balls, but not necessarily more homeruns. Do you agree? How do the pitchers out there feel about this? How do the third basemen out there feel about this?
The height limit in Montana has been “somewhere above the clouds” for at least 15 years. I’ve actually seen players swoon in disbelief when an umpire calls a pitch illegal for height over there. Will the umpires change to follow the rule, or will we have to pry the 30-foot pitch out of their cold, dead hands?
To Roy Hobbs,
I have played in several tournaments Vogel has run, I like the awards and our team isnt surprised by changes at the tournaments. His umps know the rules and dont let the players get away with crap.
When you play tournaments, you have to be ready for anything. Teams that dont showup, bad weather, forfeits. Teams travel to play tournaments and arent able to come back for reschedule, the TD has alot of things to do just so we can show up and play softball.
You must have not gotten your way on something and bash him because of it. Do you honestly know him or just another bashing player that doesnt get his way, you know losers always complain
There is a reason why he is the director and no one else is. He is trying to do things no one else has in this area. Vogel has many years experience with Utrip, this area doesnt have any.
You should really be honest with yourself and play in his events, maybe even travel to others he puts on.
Nobb cuffs r legal now too
Not to mention u do not have all the issues w the bats in USSSA. The one problem is they use a mush ball that is way worse than ASA when it gets hot. To be honest it would be nice just to see something new here maybe we could get a good tourney or two. The people in spokane and CDA who run the fields need to be changed we need new blood. USSSA or maybe NSA might bring it. I am partial to USSSA not sure why. There web site is awesome they seem to be on the cutting edge. All the tourneys are posted at least in the state of Wash.
I think ASA changed the hieght because they r losing tons of teams to USSSA every year. It is putting a band aid on a broken arm. The reason everyone is switching to USSSA is because the old geezers that run asa suck. Go look at the USSSA web site it is very organized. The bracket for E worlds was updated every hour. They have a data base for its players you can not show up to a tourney and pick up an upper division player. If you play in an E tourney and want to pick up a D player you have to get it approved by the state commisioner. They have better rules too. In E ball aka D ball ASA if you hit a homerun it is an ending inning out plus the player is ejected from the game. They address issues. I hope we get USSSA at the new joe albi complex w out vogel running it. Sorry about the rant
no hell at least get 2 feet out of it
The real question is whether Pearson will still be able to hit his 12-inch bleeders.
i think for the game there will be more line drives and harder hit balls pitchers will have to be more on there toes in some games i think most of us will not even notice ill still hit a can of corn to the left side
Cold dead hands I would say. But what I am thinking is this: they are pushing and pushing for all the softball teams to be NSA and there will be no ASA at all pretty soon.