First the legs go. Then the arm starts to wilt. After back-to-back games or even three games in three days, high school softball pitchers start to feel the strain. Eventually, there isn’t a lot of wind left in the windmill.

“The motion isn’t all that jarring,” said Monmouth pitcher Emily Gauthier. “My arm didn’t really feel it. It was mostly fatigue.”

Gauthier knows a little something about pitching extra innings. She pitched 25 innings in a span of three days last year and had the majority of work this year when the Mustangs’ schedule got backed up due to rainouts. Still, the increased workload in such a short time span had little effect.

“(Pitches) get a little slower after a while, but I find that my accuracy is better,” she said.

Leavitt’s Sam St. Hilaire echoes those thoughts. This season, she pitched full-time for the first time in her high school career after sharing duties as a freshman and sophomore. She faced three games in three days and felt unfazed.

This past weekend, she hurled the Hornets to playoff victories over Oxford Hills and Cony in a period of less than 24 hours.

“I’ve pitched three games in a row because of rescheduling, and it hasn’t done anything to me,” said St. Hilaire. “I don’t think physically it does anything. Mentally, it might tire you a little bit.”

Pitchers only face such conditions for brief spurts each season in Maine when spring weather wreaks havoc with the high school schedule.

Those exceptions might be just enough inspiration to create interest in a pitching limitations rule.

Talk of such a rule limiting the number of innings each pitcher can throw in a week or mandating periods of rest has begun on the local and national level. No such proposal exists as of yet, but some feel that a rule could be proposed in the future, especially if medical evidence shows that overuse can have long-term effects on pitchers.

“I think that it probably would be (well received by the Maine Principals’ Association voting body),” said Peter Brown, the Jay principal and a softball umpire for over 20 years. “I look at the schedule we’ve had with all the rain and all the games backed up. If you have only one pitcher, that’s an awful lot to ask just one girl. Some kind of limitations would be very helpful.

“If it came to us, I would support some kind of limitation. Maybe not as strict as the baseball rule, but I really think most principals would welcome some kind of limitation.”

Jumping the gun?

Pat Doyle, a former coach and current member of the softball committee, says it might be proven that a limitations rule may be needed in some states.

She isn’t sure that applies to Maine, however.

“Personally, I think we’re premature in a state like Maine where we play maybe 18 games a year, with some preliminaries and the playoffs, to put ourselves in a category with teams in other states that play 60 to 80 games a year,” said Doyle. “Are we comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges? I think there’s a balance that needs to be struck.”

While a baseball rule has been in place since 1990, forcing every pitcher who throws moret han three innings a game to rest three days, no such rule has been established for softball. It has been considered that softball’s underhand “windmill” delivery doesn’t create the physical problems the overhand baseball pitcher experiences.

“The only way I see it hurting the way girls throw is fatigue,” said Buckfield coach Dan Jack. “I haven’t seen anybody get hurt pitching. I really don’t think there’s a need for it. I don’t think they need it as far as hurting themselves.”

Leavitt coach Pete Higgins also feels a change would be unnecessary.

“The people who eventually make the decision on this and go along with it are not involved with the sport,” he said. “The people that know anything about it would know (whether it is harmful). To go to anything like baseball is crazy. If you want to make a limit, make it you can only pitch one game a day or every other day or something like that.”

Gauthier says she can’t imagine having to pitch with such a rule in Maine.

“Based on the number of games we play a year, if you’re honest with yourself and you take care of yourself and tell your coach when you don’t feel able to pitch, it really shouldn’t be an issue,” said Gauthier. “You have to take care of yourself and be smart about it.”

Medical questions

When medical evidence proved that overuse of a pitching arm in baseball could be harmful, the baseball rule was put into place. Only a few states have put such a rule in play. The National Federation of State High School Associations is silent when it comes to the baseball rule, allowing individual states to create their limitations.

Softball pitchers have been exempt of any limitations, but questions have arisen about assumptions that the windmill motion is harmless.

“We’re just now starting to get some research on that,” said Mary Stuckoff, an assistant director with the NFHS.

Struckoff said that the Federation’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee has decided that the issue is worth pursuing. If evidence proves conclusive that softball pitchers can be harmed from overuse and long-term effects are possible, a limitations rule would likely follow. How long it would take for the medical research to provide an answer is unknown.

“I don’t even know that I can hazard a guess,” said Struckoff. “I’d hope to have something substantial by next year.”

Typically, the MPA follows what the Federation does.

“If the Federation accepts a pitching rule, we would adopt that,” said Jeff Sturgis, the assistant executive director of the MPA. “Sometimes what they do is run it for a year and have some states participate, then get feedback on it.”

The MPA could go against what the Federation does, including establishing its own rule. In this case, though, Sturgis said it is likely that the state would follow the Federation’s conclusion.

“Certainly the Federation is in a better situation to gather statistics nationally,” said Sturgis. “States can follow or not follow certain rules. We’d have to notify them if we did. Technically, we could (go it alone), but probably now we wouldn’t.”

Because the Federation oversees the entire nation, their interests in limits may be more geared to players in warmer climates that see many more games and have greater opportunity to abuse their arms.

Another question is whether a new rule would solve the problem. Many players participate in summer programs where they may pitch many more innings in a day than in high school. Those programs would not have to adhere to the Federation’s rule.

“Many of the pitchers are pitching year-round,” said Struckoff. “There’s just as much abuse, if not more abuse, in those situations. That’s been the other concern. We don’t know that we’re (high school sports) the problem.”

So the question for Maine softball is will the Federation’s findings and conclusions really have relevance here?

“In softball there’s such a diversity in parts of the country,” said Doyle. “We’re talking April through June and we’re done. Are we within their guidelines (when) a kid can pitch for a couple of months and be OK with it?”

It’s difficult for principals, coaches and players to weigh the impact when no one knows exactly how a new rule would be worded.

“Until they say, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ how do you react?” said Brown. “Until we get all the information, it is difficult to talk about anything.”

Increased opportunities

The benefit of a limitations rule, aside from addressing health concerns, is that it would create opportunity for more pitchers. With so many young girls participating in youth sports, more players with pitching experience may be reaching the high school level. In some instances, those pitchers are forced to play other positions because one hurler has the job.

“It can’t hurt the game,” said Keene. “It can only be good for the game if we’re getting more kids being forced to be in that circle.”

Keene has seen both sides of the situation. He had a standout pitcher that started virtually all four years of her career, but he’s also had a pair of pitchers share duty the last few seasons.

“If we’ve had a horse, we’ve ridden it,” said Keene. “But we’ve always had someone in the wings that could come in. This would have been a good year for us (to follow such a rule). Neither one of are kids are overpowering anybody. They both know what they do well. I think that’s how I would look at it if I’m going to do it. I’d find two kids that understand what they do well and have them go out and do it.”

While some pitchers have little trouble with the increased workload brought on by numerous rainouts, others may not fare as well, especially if the pitcher is younger, less developed physically and less experienced.

Keene says the most likely cause for injury at this level might be improper technique.

“I think where the problem lies is coaches knowing how to teach different pitches,” said Keene. “What I’ve seen is that when kids get hurt, they’re throwing a lot of different pitches. Maybe they haven’t been coached at it extremely well. That’s when they have some injuries. I think it’s important that we as coaches get educated and make sure we understand all the things the kids are doing.”

Walking in rhythm

Pitchers want to pitch, however, and finding consistency, confidence and a groove can be difficult when your starts are less frequent.

“I find that as the season moves along, you get into a rhythm,” said Gauthier. “You don’t get that if you have days off. I feel it would really mess with my rhythm. I wouldn’t complain about it, because I do what they want me to do. But I like going to the field knowing what I’m going to do. I think it would throw me off. It would take me a year to get used to it. If I didn’t pitch as many games, I wouldn’t feel as confident when I threw. I can’t even really imagine what it would be like not having three games in a week.”

St. Hilaire pitched significantly more this year now that she wasn’t sharing the role.

“I actually would rather pitch all the games,” said St. Hilaire. “That’s the way I am. I like the feeling of kind of being in control. When you’re pitching every game, you get really used to your team and you get comfortable with everyone. I like it better that way.”

A significant concern for many is finding the extra pitchers. Teams in the higher classes usually have a number of pitchers, but smaller schools might find it a challenge to develop enough quality pitchers.

Jack’s Buckfield team is one of the only Western D squads that has the luxury of two pitchers, senior Danielle Buswell and freshman Desiree Brackett.

“There’s not so many in Class D,” said Jack. “I’d say Desiree is the third-best pitcher in (Western) D right now.”

Struckoff says any movement towards any kind of rule change is at least a year away and dependent upon what the medical evidence ultimately shows.

“If we need to take the lead, we will,” she said. “We’re trying to keep a pulse on it and do what’s best for the athletes.”

If the Federation found a change was worth pursuing, Maine would then have its own decision to make.

“What we’re looking at is not to take it lightly,” said Doyle, “but to take it from a scientific point of view. What does the proper research show, and do our schools fit into those parameters? That’s where the committee is leaning.”

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