PREP SOFTBALL: Moving pitcher's circle back expected to create more offense

BY TERRY MONAHAN - tmonahan@nctimes.com | Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 

Torrey Pines pitcher Lauren Hynes.

Photo by Eric Jepsen, Staff Photographer.

It's just 3 feet, which doesn't seem like very much of a change. But moving the pitching circle in softball from 40 feet to 43 feet this season seems to have ended an era in which pitching dominated high school play.

The National Federation of State High School Associations adopted the change in 2009 and states have slowly been instituting the new pitching circle since then. This spring, it was California's turn to move the pitchers back.

And that makes hitters very happy.

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