11-THE KILLER RISE

Very few girls can actually throw a true rise. Many believe they can, usually because they have mistakenly been told such. A true rise-the Killer, will head for the plate with back spin on a slightly inclined trajectory. A few feet in front of the plate it will turn upward, actually creating an inclining banana curve like path. A typical rise, is what I call a spinner or incline rise, simply leaves the pitchers hand and goes straight to the catchers glove, never bending off its inclined trajectory. A killer rise is hard to hit because it breaks to a new path so close to the hitter that they cannot adjust. It is also have to hit because through much of it's flight it appears to be heading right into the strike zone. An incline rise begins to look like a high ball early in its flight and the batter is able to let it go, as a result. Should it be placed in the strike zone, it is easy prey because it never broke. Interestingly, the girl who learns the incline will often have better success in the early years because the hitters are not efficient yet. Later on she will have to drop the pitch entirely, unless she can throw well into the 60's and even then, it will only be a supplement. However the girl who perfects the killer, can use it 40,50, even 70 % of the time against advanced hitters. It is the separator between going to DivII and going DivI.

To throw it:

Grip the ball along the seems any way you wish, although most CF pitchers are taught to grip it along the seems where they are narrowly separated. The first finger is curved , or hooked onto the side of the ball. The second and third fingers lie against the inside of the seem line. ( I really need picture for this on e ha!)
Pre cup the ball loosely as you circle so that at release your fingers are underneath the ball and pointed away from you. Slide the fingers under the ball rapidly in order to create backspin, commonly referred to as 6-12 spin.The truer the spin and the faster the spin the greater the upward break will be. Now , it helps to keep the ball in the strike zone as it breaks so a lower starting point is needed to do this. Create this lower release point by collapsing your backside. this will place your throwing shoulder at a lower position than your glove side shoulder. To collapse think chin up, back leg bent, back foot flopped down and front leg slightly bent so you can maintain balance. Your stride should be long and explosive, with a firm landing to brace against. The pitch will leave your body somewhat open and you may have to step back with your shoulder still down. Any girl who tries to throw this pitch and finish standing straight up will fail to throw rise balls.

An alternative snapping method, is to cock instead of cup. In other words during the last half of the circle, the pitcher cocks the wrist out and at release she will snap out of the cocked position, again trying to keep the fingers away from her and underneath the ball. Personally, I like both methods a lot, but we seem to get a rise that can be kept lower, longer before breaking up with the first method.