IHSA moves softball pitchers back 3 feet

Former Marengo pitcher Sarah Steinman pitches from 40 feet during the 2007 season. Beginning next season, pitchers will throw from 43 feet. (Northwest Herald file photo)

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The IHSA’s announcement Monday that high school softball pitchers will move 3 feet farther away from batters when they begin the season next spring did not come as much of a surprise.

The pitching rubber for high school softball has been 40 feet away from the plate for several years, and the IHSA’s decision to extend that distance to 43 feet has been one the National Federation of State High School Associations considered for years.

The NFHS, the governing body for all state high school associations, voted this summer to increase the pitching distance to 43 feet for all state high school associations during the 2010-11 seasons, but gave states the option to adopt the policy one year early.

The IHSA hopes the move will increase offense and improve the safety of pitchers. The decision was met with some mixed feelings Monday.

“My opinion was to keep it at 40 feet for one more season,” said Marengo coach Dwain Nance, who is on the IHSA advisory committee for softball. “It’s going to be a major change.”

Most travel softball programs already pitch from 43 feet, so many high school players who play travel ball already have experience hitting against pitchers from the extra distance.

But younger players, Nance said, might have the toughest time adjusting. The freshman and sophomore pitchers still are pitching from 40 feet in high school and on most travel clubs, and likely could have benefited from training at 43 feet this summer.

IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman pointed to safety as being the driving force behind the IHSA’s decision to change the distance as early as this year.

“When you consider the safety factor, there really wasn’t a logical reason to wait a year to move the pitching distance,” Hickman said in a news release.

Last season, Alden-Hebron pitcher Hayli Lagerhausen was hit in the cheek with a line drive and went through facial reconstruction surgery after the injury. Several local pitchers wear masks to avoid a similar fate.

But pushing the pitcher back 3 feet also guarantees more offense, Nance pointed out.

“This might give [the pitcher] more reaction time,” Nance said, “but it’s also going to put more balls in play.

“ ... I don’t mind the change; I just was hoping we’d be able to wait another year.”

Prairie Ridge pitcher Johanna Turner, who pitches from 43 feet during her travel softball season with Schaumburg-based Illinois Thunder, said she didn’t mind the change, although she knows it will make a difference next spring.

“You have to push off a little harder from the mound [from 43 feet],” Turner said. “There is also a little more movement on your [breaking] pitches.

“ ... I caught line drives at 40 feet fine, so I don’t know if there will be much difference there. We’ll see. I’m fine with the change. I heard [the IHSA] was thinking about doing it, and I’m good with it.”

The IHSA Board of Directors on Monday also approved a recommendation to begin licensing officials for lacrosse in anticipation of a state series.

The Board of Directors also heard a presentation from Lacrosse in Illinois regarding the growing number of programs in the state and the sport’s desire to receive official recognition from the IHSA with a state series for both boys and girls.

Boys and girls lacrosse both still are below the 10 percent threshold the IHSA requires for consideration and are considered Emerging Sports.