Why is it that softball pitchers can pitch 4 complete games in 3 days the way Kristen Schmidt did? Is it because the motion of pitching a softball puts a lot less stess on the arm than pitching a baseball. Before the first game against California had even finished Schmidt had thrown over 500 pitches in 3 days and then to come back an hour later and pitch another complete game sounds impossible.
My understanding is the underhand method is a more natural movement of the arm. The overhand method puts more strain and is not a natural movement. All that aside, it was still an amazing pitching performance by Smitty. You have to have stamina to pitch as much as she did.
Bengal B, to answer your question it is due to the throwing motion that allows them to throw so much. it is the natural motion of the arm. same reason MLB side-winders can pitch for many years. Regardless, Schmidt and all the other softball pitchers have to be in pretty good shape to throw that much. I would compare it to golf. Care to go out and take 500 swings in a day with your 1st and last swing being pretty comparable.
Thats what you and Sabertooth said but if underhanded is more natural than overhanded why is it that almost everybody naturally throws overhanded when thowing a rock, a stick or a ball for their dog to retrieve or any other spontaneous throwing of an object. I don't know about 500 times in one day or over 3 days but pitchers like Roger Clemens can throw their first pitch at 95 mph and their 100th at 98. They just can't do it again without 4 days rest. The swinging of a golf club is more comparable to an underhanded softball pitch than it is to an overhanded throw but you use both hands. If you hit a couple of buckets of balls at the driving range hopefully your last swing will be better than your first. When I heard them mention Schmidt's 3 day pitch count it was something like 528 during the 6th or 7th inning. That works out to about 176 pitchs per game, a lot higher pitch count than a baseball pitcher at any level of the game ever throws. Of course her first game went 13 innings so thats like pitching 2 games in a row with no rest at all. They also said that in last years WCWS the UCLA pitcher pitched 6 complete games and threw almost 900 pitches.
