The pitching motion must come from below the waist, in an underhanded style. The pivot foot must stay in contact with the slab until she releases the ball. The pitcher is allowed just one step once she starts into her motion, and it must be towards home plate. The fast pitch pitcher must start her pitching delivery with her shoulders squared up to home plate, her hands separated with the ball in either the hand or the glove, her pivot foot on the pitching slab and her other foot either on or behind the slab. To be called a strike, the pitch must pass the batter between the level of the highest shoulder and the front knee. The USSSA rule book states that the ball must go up at least three feet from the point at which it leaves the pitcher's hand and can not go higher then 10 feet above the ground. The pitch must come out underhand, from below the pitcher's waist, and must have an arc to its trajectory. When he releases the pitch, the pitcher must have one foot on the ground either on the slab or within that six-foot deep box. The slab and the pitching area are both two feet wide. (FP ONLY) When any part of a legally pitched ball enters the strike zone before touching the ground and at which the batter does not swing. Slow pitch softball pitchers have the option of releasing the pitch from the pitching slab or from an area defined as the pitching area, which is a six-foot area directly behind the slab. In FP, if the batter attempts to strike a live ball, it is a strike.

Asa softball strike zone