Step 14

Second Quarter of Arm Circle

Put the bat away. Start with the feet together, toes to the power line at a 45 degree angle and weight on the right foot. Fully extend the left hand directly towards the batter. Extend the right hand towards the batter (this is the first quarter position). The hand should be a few inches behind the left hand wrist. There are two reasons why it does not reach all they way as far as the left hand. First of all the shoulders are open, so the right shoulder is farther from home plate. Also the right elbow should be slightly flexed. The open right hand should be facing the ground. The right wrist should be completely limp (which actually lets the open hand point towards second base a bit). Slowly bring the right hand to the second quarter position. As the hand goes up, raise the stride leg also comes up so that the thigh is parallel to the ground, knee as high as the hip. Keep the left hand pointing at the batter.





Do not twist the right wrist relative to the forearm. Due to the movement of the shoulder, the hand will face third base as it crosses the highest point of the circle. As an aside, it also turns back to face home just before release which it should be doing naturally. Once the player feels a ball in her hand she tends to want the ball to be facing the batter but by not actually throwing, it just naturally goes where it should.

Once the hand has reached its highest point and the left thigh is parallel to the ground, stride out with the left leg and complete the throw.

Although this step is started slowly, there should not be a pause at the top of the circle. Once the hand starts in motion, it is important to keep and build the momentum all the way around. Slowly build up the beginning speed making sure that there is no slowing down of the hand at the top of the circle.

The beginning movement of the right hand through the first part should not be done as fast as possible, just quickly while comfortably in control. Hand speed at release is important but hand speed in this part of the circle does not greatly affect the release speed. Players who do not use the whipping techniques effectively will see an increase is the pitching speed. As mentioned before, beginning girls who do not whip and use the upper body as the main source of power will, as beginners, probably pitch faster than those who are using the whipping technique. It takes time and patience to have the body connect all the moving parts in an efficient manner to create whip. By the time the girls are 14U, those who have focused on the whip will be more powerful and in better position to learn breaking pitches than those that do not.

Keep in mind all the things worked on in past steps. It is often difficult for beginners to increase the amount of elbow flex as the arm is going around the circle. Keep an eye on that.

Go To Step 15