Three feet.
Doesn’t seem like much. Maybe it isn’t. Nah. Forget that. It is.
A measurement as small as 36 inches will make a huge impact on the high school sport of softball.
This year, high school softball pitchers will be moved back three feet, starting 43 feet from home plate. That gives batters three more feet of reaction time. It also gives pitchers three more feet of reaction time when a line drive screams right back toward them.
The game, in theory, will be a bit easier for the hitters. And safer for the pitchers. Position players should see more opportunities in the field.
“I think it’s a great move. Long overdue,” Union coach Alex Perry said. “Colleges use it, so the girls might as well get used to it.”
It also will lead to more scoring opportunities in a game that has been overpowered by overpowering pitchers in 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1 games that go 10, 11, or 12 innings.
“It adds a lot more offense to the game,” Perry said. “It gives teams that might not have the greatest of pitching the chance to compete.”
Perry made that statement even though he has one of the most dominating pitchers in the state’s history. Mariah Dawson is on pace to break Washington’s career strikeout record held by former Skyview standout Whitney Baker.
But Perry knows that he won’t always have a super ace. He’s been doing this long enough to know that.
This is a man who coached Mountain View to the Class 4A state title in 1994, and who started programs at Heritage and Union. He has made it to state with all three teams, including a third-place finish last year for the Titans.
“It’s going to make the game more exciting,” Perry said. “There’s going to be more hitting. Coaches are going to have to coach other aspects of the game rather than rely on good pitching when they have it. You definitely have to work a lot harder when you don’t have pitching.”
Three teams in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League do not have to worry about pitching this year.
Union and Prairie played each other for third place in last year’s state tournament. Columbia River also advanced to state. All three teams have their starting pitchers back for 2010, adjusting to the new high school distance.
Of course, Dawson, Jessi Duncan of Prairie, and Laura Luther of Columbia River probably have been pitching from that distance in the summer, so maybe it is not a big adjustment to them. But it is for the high school level, in general.
“Definitely more hitting going on,” Prairie coach Dawn Rowe said, noting that her batters only struck out once against Rogers of Puyallup, one of the best 4A teams in the state, last week.
Still, she said it was too early to tell how much more offense the extra distance will generate.
Regardless, great pitching will always prevail in high school softball.
“The pitchers that have movement on their ball, it’s moving more,” Columbia River coach Dana Blair said. “The pitchers who are (just) throwing hard and fast, they’re getting hit more because they’re not moving the ball around as much. Kids are hitting more. They’re getting harder hits, harder shots.”
And when those hard shots go back up the middle, the pitcher has only her reflexes and instincts for defense.
“I appreciate the fact that the pitchers will have a little bit more time to defend themselves,” Rowe said.
Blair is not so sure it will be a lot safer, though. These athletes can crush the ball.
“I’m not sure three feet’s going to make that much a difference,” she said. “If a kid hits the ball hard, it’s coming at (the pitchers) anyway.”
Maybe it will sting just a tad bit less.
Maybe the new distance will provide more offense.
For certain, the game will change.
Paul Valencia covers high school sports for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4557 or e-mail at paul.valencia@columbian.com.
