Fastpitch Softball Research

On this page I provide links to recent research on fastpitch softball. I will be updating as more work gets completed.

Modeling Pitch Trajectories in Fastpitch Softball, by Jean M. Clark, Meredith L. Greer, and Mark D. Semon, published in the April 2015 issue of the journal Sports Engineering. The paper is a realistic computational study of fastpitch softball trajectories. Among other things, the paper compare pitches that look similar to a batter starting her swing, yet diverge before reaching home plate. The three authors are from Bates College in Lewiston, ME. Jean did this work for her Senior Thesis, under the guidance of Profs. Semon (physics) and Greer (math).

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Analyzing Fastpitch Softball from the 2011 WCWS Powerpoint slides of a presentation I made at the August 2011 PITCHf/x summit. The presentation was based on my analysis of the PITCHf/x data from the NCAA Women's College World Series that year, with over 3500 pitches analyzed. One goal of the presentation was to compare and contrast these data from MLB baseball data.

Analysis of Softball Pitch Trajectories by the Cluster Method, a paper written by Caitlin Krebs, August 2013, as part of her research in the summer REU program at the University of Illinois. Caitlin is a physics major at Drury University and a pitcher on her college team. Under my supervision, she analyzed the PITCHf/x data from the 2011 WCWS.