Coach JP Says
If hitting is about timing and balance, can you imagine owning a pitch that has a velocity between your fastball and your change up…with a sharp curve AND drop!
I like Coach Johnson's building block approach where after the theory and mechanics were taught, the demonstrator was put into an on-field test beginning with a release drill, on to a drill to demonstrate ball movement, then utilizing a location drill called the rope drill.
This pitch is really teachable, provided it can be coached. More exactly, I think that most pitchers would find it too difficult to teach themselves (the exception might be if the player used video and playback equipment).
Approved by Coach Ernie Parker
Ernie Parker is one of the most renowned pitching coaches in the history of softball. He's not just the pitching coach to the stars, he helped create the stars! Players such as Carrie Dolan, Jennie Finch, DeeDee Weiman and even Lisa Fernandez have been students of Coach Parker.
Here's what the man who helped mold some of the most successful fastpitch pitchers in the game's history had to say when shown the Triple Pitch:
"Jerry demonstrated this pitch to me and explained the mechanics of the pitch. I found it to be a very sharp breaking pitch that will be very effective when thrown correctly."
About the Triple Pitch's Inventor
Jerry Johnson has been involved in softball for over 30 years and has coached at every level of the sport while residing in West Virginia.
After retiring from the U.S. Army with the rank of Sergeant Major, Johnson became Greenbrier West High School's first softball coach in 1996.
In 2004 he was named the pitching coach for the Mountain State University Lady Cougars softball team in Beckley. The following season he added the assistant coach position to his duties.
Coach Johnson also gives private pitching lessons and organizes and participates in pitching clinics throughout Southern West Virginia.
Coach Johnson and The Triple Pitch Featured in ESPN the Magazine
From the August 31, 2006 issue
As Jerry Johnson discovered earlier this year, there's a simple way to invent a softball pitch that's as reliable as the changeup, curveball and dropball: Just combine all three. After spending a year experimenting with different grips and release points, the softball pitching coach at West Virginia's Mountain State University unspooled an offering that dropped across the plate along an 11-to-5 path while traveling off-speed.
Suspecting that he had developed a new toss, Johnson e-mailed Ernie Parker, who has coached the likes of Olympians Jennie Finch and Lisa Fernandez on his national teams.
Parker confirmed that the "triple pitch" is indeed brand-new and requested to see a video of it in action. Johnson did him one better and made the drive to Parker's home in Memphis for a live demonstration. Impressed, Parker helped Johnson spread the word.
Then, with the aid of MSU pitcher Natalie Hanson and catcher Jennifer Sloan, Johnson filmed an instructional DVD that displays the triple pitch's two different grips and release points.
Hanson has since thrown the triple pitch effectively in competition, creating a worldwide buzz that has competitors like Tanya Harding (the pitcher, not the skater) of the Australian Olympic team calling Johnson to inquire about its mechanics. So far, to no avail. Says Johnson: "I can't give away the grip because then nobody will buy the DVD."
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I am a pitching instructor in Kansas City, MO. I have several pitchers throwing the Triple Pitch. I have one pitcher in 12 & under throwing it exclusively as her change up and it has yet to be hit and has struck out several batters.