SOFTBALL PITCHING DISTANCE TO INCREASE TO 43 FEET
Thursday, July 9th, 2009 -- 9:48 AM
Effective with the 2010-11 school year, the pitching distance for high school varsity softball pitchers will increase from 40 feet to 43 feet. The new pitching distance was one of four rules revisions made by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Softball Rules Committee at its annual meeting June 8-10 in Indianapolis. They were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors. Although the new pitching distance is mandatory beginning with the 2010-11 school year, NFHS-member state high school associations may adopt the 43-feet distance in 2009-10, if desired. Creating a better balance between the offense and the defense was the major rationale for the rule change. Experimentation results from Florida and Oregon indicated more batted balls were hit into play. Softball is the fourth-most popular sport among girls at the high school level with 371,293 participants during the 2007-08 season, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS.Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.