THE EFFECTS OF FATIGUE ON SOFTBALL PITCHER FROM PITCHING MULTIPLE GAMES

Authors

Tom Wu, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Christine Semler, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Pamela J. Russell, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Tsung-Lin Lu, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow

Category

Olympic

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of fatigue on softball pitching from pitching back to back games. Players were asked to throw 15 balls in each inning for seven innings and for a total of two games. The results showed fastball’s velocity in the first inning of the first game (25.4 ± 2.5 m/s) had significantly decreased after a game and a half (24.3 ± 2.7 m/s; p = 0.00). Hence, this study suggests that the pitchers started to show signs of fatigue after this amount of pitches (165 pitches), so softball coaches may take this into consideration and make necessary pitching change. Given the established relationship between fatigue and injury in pitchers, the Amateur Softball Association may use this information to implement a pitch count to protect softball pitchers from overuse injury

Recommended Citation

Wu, Tom; Semler, Christine; Russell, Pamela J.; and Lu, Tsung-Lin (2019) "THE EFFECTS OF FATIGUE ON SOFTBALL PITCHER FROM PITCHING MULTIPLE GAMES," ISBS Proceedings Archive: Vol. 37: Iss. 1, Article 47.
Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/isbs/vol37/iss1/47