Pitching Basics

By John J. Castro

The game begins after the umpire yells out "Play Ball" and then the pitcher steps on the pitching rubber on the mound. When the pitcher is ready he delivers the pitch to the hitter. The goal of the pitcher is to throw the ball in to the strike zone which is a imaginary rectangle between the hitters knees to his jersey letters or the hitters armpits. You can get strikes by throwing them in the strike zone and the umpire yelling strike if the batter does not swing. You can have the batter swing and miss. Or you can have the batter hit a foul ball which is also considered a strike. If the batter has two strikes and hits a foul ball then he can not be struck out until he either misses or you throw him a strike.

The pitcher is not perfect so if he throws pitches out of the zone they will be considered a ball. If you throw four balls before you get three strikes that is called a walk and the hitter gets the chance to advance to first base. Your main goal is to get the batter out by either striking him out or having hit the ball to your teammates so that they can get the outs. Once you get three outs it is your teams turn to bat. After you get three outs then that is the end of the first inning. The best thing you can do is try and have the batter hit the ball rather then to always try and strike him out. You will eventually strike people out just by throwing strikes. The strike outs will come on their own.

John has been writing articles online for nearly 5 years, not only does this author specialize in sports, you can also check out his latest website on Tinkerbell Party Supplies which has some great tips and ideas for your next party.

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