I grew up playing softball and slo-pitch so a trip to the batting cages brought back fond memories.

I remember practising my fast pitch (windmill) at home. Dad installed a wooden pitching rubber and home plate at the side of the house, and we’d go out so I could practice pitching. I also remember pitching to my coach during practise one evening and my coach pointed out that my pitches were actually cutting. I could through a breaking pitch when I was only 12!

The reason the ball curved was my wonky delivery. That was also the reason I didn’t pitch as fast as the other pitchers on my rep softball teams during highschool, and why I was subsequently cut from being a pitcher. Apparently being an accurate pitcher who could throw to either side of the plate wasn’t enough.

I was never much of a batter and a night at the batting cages confirmed it. Mostly it hurt my hands when the bat vibrated off the ball, especially in the slo-pitch cage. I hit a few baseballs at the 45 mph speed, but at 55 mph, I made contact only twice.

A fun swing down memory lane.

Medium baseball speed was the fastest I make contact with.