Fig 1.
Series showing a batter’s striking motion: (a)–(b) observation of the pitcher’s motion; (c) initiation of the preparatory movement (Initiation); (d)–(e) weight shift to forward and taking backswing; (f) ending of the preparatory movement (Ending) and swing initiation; (g) forward swing; and (h) bat–ball contact (Impact).
Fig 2.
(a) Three types of stepping movement in the initiation time–step duration plane and (b) schematic of the three types of stepping movement.
Fig 3.
Schematic of the video recording setup.
Fig 4.
Four identified events: (a) initiation, (b) release, (c) ending, and (d) impact. (a), (c), and (d) are movements of the batter, whereas (b) is the movement of the pitcher.
Fig 5.
Boxplots of the ball travel time (a), initiation time (b), and step duration (c) for the three competition categories.
Fig 6.
Relationships between the initiation time and the step duration for high school (a), college (b), and league players (c). Comparison of all the data for all the three player categories (d). Triangles, crosses, and circles represent the high school, college, and league players, respectively.
Fig 7.
Three clusters of the stepping movement.
Fig 8.
Ratios of the players in different clusters in each competition category.
Table 1.
Frequency of the stepping pattern of each competition category in each cluster.
Table 2.
Relationship between the task constraints and the stepping movement of fast-pitch softball hitting for each category.