Riseball

In fastpitch softball, a rise ball is type of pitch that is thrown on an upward trajectory and with backspin in order to impart a rising motion.^[1] Two factors are primarily responsible for the effectiveness of the rise ball – movement and velocity. Pitchers rely on the movement of the rise ball to fool batters into swinging at pitches that appear to be in the strike zone but move up to and out of the upper part of the strike zone where they are more difficult to hit. Additionally the rise ball may be used in the lower strike zone to induce a batter to not swing at a pitch that they believe will drop out of the strike zone, but in fact travels through the zone causing the hitter to take a strike without swinging. Rise balls are high velocity pitches, generally thrown at speeds that match or are close to the pitcher’s fastball speed. At the women’s collegiate level, rise balls typically are thrown in a range of 60 to 70mph with the most dominant pitchers capable of speeds in excess of 70mph.

Although the rise ball has been popularized by Jennie Finch, who famously used it (among other pitches) to strike out some Major League Baseball players including Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds, most effective softball pitchers use the rise ball in combination with other pitches. Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman, are widely considered to be among the most dominant pitchers ever to use the rise ball as part of their pitching approach.^[2][3]