Riseball

A Dimple (Riseball) is a pitch thrown by a pitcher in fastpitch softball. Upon release by the pitcher, the ball has backspin. The backspin on the ball combined with arm and leg lift causes the ball to rise as it moves towards the batter. Jennie Finch is famous for striking out Major League Baseball players with this pitch. The riseball is in effect upside down to a curve ball thrown overhand.

Some baseball pitchers throw a variation of the riseball known as a "backspin fastball." Over the 46 foot distance from the pitcher to the batter in Little League baseball, a baseball thrown horizontally at a speed of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) would be expected to drop about 48 inches (120 cm). If sufficient backspin is put on the ball by the pitcher, the amount of drop over the same distance is reduced by about 12 inches (30 cm).

The movement of the ball is caused by the Magnus Effect.

External links

• Warner, Gerald. "Rise Ball Secrets PITCH SOFTBALL: Valuable softball pitching advice for girl softball pitchers". http://www.pitchsoftball.com/RiseBallSecrets.html. Retrieved 2009-08-12. 
• Brazier, Roanna. "Beginning Softball Pitching - How to Pitch a Rise ball In Softball". http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-pitching/how-to-pitch-a-rise-ball.html. Retrieved 2009-08-12.