For as long as there have been baseball and softball diamonds, pitchers have ruled.
It’s a concept that’s lived on through the timeless phrase, “Pitching wins championships.”
But average spectators may not enjoy sitting through low-scoring games. It’s for this reason that the most glamorous jobs in baseball and softball tend to be associated with the big-bopping corner infielders and outfielders (with some exceptions — see Jennie Finch).
Then again, those same fans who love scoring would be just as thrilled to see their team play in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City this June.
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins knows a thing or two about grooming a pitching staff for the WCWS. In 2005, she imparted her “one-pitch softball” philosophy on then-Wolverine starter Jennie Ritter en route to the program’s first NCAA championship. Sports Illustrated later named Ritter the ninth-best Michigan athlete of all-time for her integral role in the team’s success.
But that was then. Here’s an in-depth look at the Wolverines’ set of dominant pitchers in 2010:
Nikki Nemitz, senior, LHP
College softball coaches naturally look for their players to progress each spring and offseason. But this lefty will have a tough time eclipsing the numbers she put up in her 2009 campaign.
Nemitz finished with career highs in most major pitching categories — wins (28), strikeouts (306) and opponents’ batting average (.150). Surprisingly, her formidable 1.07 ERA was a three-point downgrade from her sophomore season.
She attributes those results to the pitching mantra that’s governed her play since she arrived in Ann Arbor three years ago — “one-pitch softball.”
“It provides the basics for everything that we try to do,” Nemitz said. “If you’re thinking about a pitch that a batter crushed in the last at-bat, then the results will never show up. You have to focus on the moment — on what you can control.”
And Nemitz shouldn’t have to focus on too much else — she has just four pitches in her repertoire: curveball, screwball, changeup and rise ball. Instead of overwhelming hitters with a variety of pitches, as many of the best pitchers do, she relies on superb command and an excellent velocity drop-off on her changeup.
That formula has been noticeably effective, since an offense that only needs to cross the plate a couple of times in seven innings is a happy offense.
Jordan Taylor, junior, RHP
Taylor possesses one of the nation’s filthiest curveballs. And she isn’t particularly modest about it either.
“The curveball was working really well today, which is pretty normal,” she said after a complete-game shutout over Maryland last month. “My curveball is usually very effective.”
Then again, a pitcher who can toss a one-hit shutout against No. 2 Arizona’s lineup, which showcases three .420-plus hitters, doesn’t really need to be modest. Taylor has surpassed expectations thus far in her junior campaign. And should she keep up her current pace, her end-of-May numbers when the WCWS approaches will rival those of Ritter’s 2005 record-breaking statistics — 280-plus innings pitched, 35-or-more wins and 450 strikeouts.
But there is one issue that can prevent Taylor from reaching those lofty goals.
It seems superficially inconsequential, but the NCAA has recently decided to strictly enforce the “crow-hop rule,” which says that the pitcher’s back foot must stay on the ground dragging during the pitching motion. Pitchers are barred from lifting their foot and replanting it back on the ground to push off of.
Unfortunately for Taylor, the rule isn’t particularly conducive to her style of pitching, and the rest of her season’s success may rely on a combination of leniency from the umps and a slight revamp of her pitching motion. Last weekend alone she threw 12 illegal pitches, the penalty for which is a free base for all base runners, and she was handed her second loss of the season.
“I’ve been pitching like this since I was 16 years old,” Taylor said. “It’s not quick mid-week fix, let alone a mid-season fix.”
Regardless, Taylor will continue to keep hitters on their toes, as the rule change doesn’t detract from her six-pitch arsenal. She throws a curveball, changeup, back-door curve, rise ball, drop ball and screwball, all of which hold their own against the nation’s best.
The Balance
Michigan’s pitching duo is uniquely dynamic. Not only are Nemitz and Taylor premiere pitchers in the Big Ten and NCAA, but they also complement each other in an unprecedented, even eerie, manner.
That can be the difference-maker between the Wolverines and other elite pitching staffs.
They pitch from different sides of the mound. They have different release styles and heights. One relies on control pitching, and the other on breaking movement.
They have different looks for different opposing offenses.
“There’s no number one pitcher. We have two All-American pitchers,” Hutchins said. “And that’s our greatest strength.”