Step 4

Longer Stride

Do exactly what you did in step 3, but stride out about 50% farther than in step 3.

With the longer stride, the head will move forward by the time the left foot touches the ground. The weight must remain squarely above the right leg, or more correctly the right knee, at all times. This can be observed by seeing if the upper leg remains straight up and down throughout the entire step until the very end when it moves forward slightly as the knee is slightly flexed towards home plate.



As the player becomes comfortable with this step, she should increase the speed, both for the stride and the drag of the right foot. She could increase the length of the stride as well. Make sure that if she increases the stride a lot that her right foot does not come off the ground so that she “hops” before finishing, again a waste of energy (not to mention being against the rules).

As an aside, there is no direct physical connection between the length of the stride and the speed of the pitch. The speed and the power of the stride are very important, but not the length. Now, a pitcher with a long stride releases her pitch closer to home plate so for the same speed pitch the batter has less reaction time. Also for many girls it’s easier to generate the stride’s power and speed with a longer stride. But for beginning pitchers the length of the stride should not get to the point so her other mechanics start breaking down. Find a comfortable stepping length and perfect that before trying to look like a college pitcher.

Go To Step 5 (preliminary)