Catcher's Corner

Welcome to Catcher's Corner. This page is devoted solely to those special people who run the game, catchers. Here you will find almost everything you need to know about calling pitches, plus, a section about how to call pitches in various game situations. So enjoy! If you would like to get in touch with a catcher, visit the Get In Touch! page. Any questions, comments, or things you would like to see added? Please contact the WAA softball site manager.

Catcher's Call Chart

For right-handed batters and right-handed pitchers
Hitter's Stance	Hitter's Weakness	Pitch
Up in front of box	Fastball high	Fastest pitch, rise
In back of box	Breaking balls	Any breaking ball, drop
Closed Stance	Inside	Inside drop or rise, screw
Open stance	Outside	Out drop or rise, curve or curve drop or rise
Closed stride	Inside	Inside drop or rise, screw
Open Stride	Outside	Out drop or rise, curve or curve drop, rise
Stands tall, upright	Low	In drop, screw
Crouches over	High	In or out rise, curve rise
Hands held above strike zone	Low	In or out drop, curve drop, screw
Hands held low	High in	In or out rise, curve rise
Hands away from body	Inside	In drop or rise, screw
Straight left arm, long slow swing	Inside	Offspeed, jam, rise, drop, screw, change inside
Long over-stride	High	Rise in or out, rise curve, change
Hitch	High	Rise in or out, rise curve
Inside out swing	In, low	In drop, rise, screw, change
Nervous	Variety of speeds	Offspeed, use speed as waste then breaking ball
Tilted head	Inside	In rise or drop, screw ball
Swings up	High, in low	Rise inor out, drop in, screw
Lunging batter	High, mix	Rise in or out, change
LH batter with speed	Low out or high in	Drop, screw, rise, curve rise

Situational Strategy

Information gathered from "Fastpitch World" August 1993
Game Situation	Result Wanted	Pitch to Hit
Runner on 1st, bunt situation	Poor bunt or pop up	High in or out, very inside low
Hitter bunts for hit	Poor bunt or force to hit	High in or out, change in, LH out away
Runner on 2nd, RH, 0 or 1 out	Ground ball, left side	Low in, change in, high in
Runner on 3rd, RH, 0 or 1 out	Ground ball corners	Very low in and out
Runner on 2nd, LH 0 or 1 out	Ground ball, left side	Low out, change, high out
Runner on 3rd, LH, 0 or 1 out	Ground ball, left side	Low out, change
Runner on 3rd, 0 or 1 out	Poor bunt, pop out, pick off	High in or out, very low in, or pitch out, NO CHANGE
Bases loaded or runners at 2nd, 3rd, 0 or 1 out	Ground ball	Low in or out
Hit and run, 0 or 1 out	Pop up or gound ball, left side	Low in or jam high in
Aggressive, anxious hitter	Change rhythm	Make her wait, hold on rubber longer, back off rubber, mix speed
Ahead in count	Pitch to pitcher's strike zone, just outside batter's strike zone. Make batter swing at a ball
Behind in count	Pitch to umpire's and pitcher's strike sone. NEVER pitch to batter's strengths

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on This page last updated on Saturday March 21, 1998.

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