Yellow tape on pitching machine for 9 inch balls
How to Use Pitching Machines
with Smaller 9 inch Balls And Tennis Balls
Short Version for those in a hurry and do not like pictures:
1. Get the machines with the yellow duct tape on them, put them in cage.
2. Position machines straight, tighten base so it doesn't shift left or right. One of machines you have to rotate entire upper assembly clockwise to get it tight
3. Use Yellow Juggs 9 inch balls located in black Easton Buckets
4. You can also use tennis balls located in orange Home Depot buckets. NOTE: To use tennis balls, you have to raise the speed of the machine another 15mph more than you use for the yellow balls. Also, you have to shift the pitching machine about 4.5 degrees to the left, as the tennis balls come out an angle. AND, you must gently insert the tennis balls into the feeder to ensure they go straight for a strike. If you rattle the tennis ball around in the feeder, it will not come out straight. BUT, if you are trying to teach your batter pitch selection, rattle the tennis ball around in the feeder and see if she swings at a bad one.
Long version for those of us that need more of an explanation or are new to using the Juggs pitching machine.
1. SHB has about four pitching machines. Two of them are setup to use 9 inch balls, the other two are setup to use 12 inch balls. The two machines that use the 9 inch balls have a piece of yellow duct tape on them, they look like this:
Yellow tape on pitching machine for 9 inch balls
There are two black Easton buckets with about 144 balls total
After placing machine into the cage, plugging into the power (you might have to click the little circuit reset button on the power outlet), then tighten the base securely so the machine doesn't rotate. If it rotates and moves, the balls will not go straight. One of the two machines has to be tightened by rotating the whole assembly above the base, so you are screwing it back into the base like this:
The other machine, tighten the big screw by the base to make sure it doesn't rotate. Looks like this:
Now, turn on machine with the toggle switching on the machine, let wheel spin up. Put a yellow ball into the machine, see where it goes. Adjust the height with the other big screw on the machine so it shoots level strikes. If it pitches too far to the left or right, I usually just move the entire machine a couple of degrees to get it to go straight. It should throw the yellow Juggs balls straight all the time.
For you more advanced users, there are 200 tennis balls in the shed in the orange Home Depot buckets. Since the tennis balls are slightly smaller than the yellow Juggs balls, and they are not all perfectly the same size as the hard yellow balls, and since the tennis balls are "squished" more by the rubber wheel, they are not as accurate as the yellow Juggs balls. HOWEVER, if you are careful, it can be "accurate enough", say 75% strikes. The trick is the following:
1. You have to speed up the machine an extra 15 mph or so. (because the tennis balls squish, it loses speed coming off the wheel and the top plate)
2. You need to turn the machine about 4.5 degrees to the left, and adjust the height.
3. YOU NEED TO INSERT THE TENNIS BALLS GENTLY, THE SAME WAY EVERY TIME. Remember, tennis balls are squishy, so if you let it bounce around in the ball feeder, it will not hit the wheel exactly in the same place every time, so it will throw a lot of wild pitches. Use two fingers, and let the ball gently roll into the pitching machine, and it should fire straight. If your batters are swinging at too many bad pitches in their live games/scrimmages, then occasionally rattle the ball around in the feeder so it throw a wild pitch and see if the batter swings at it.
My recommendation for batting practice?
I would setup one machine for the yellow Juggs balls. I would set the other one up for tennis balls. That way you have 144 Juggs balls, and 200 tennis balls, so now you only have to shag balls every 15 minutes or so, instead of constantly shagging balls which is a huge time waster. I would use the tennis ball machine to teach girls to bunt (and hit also), as the tennis balls won't hurt their hands if they get hit on the handle with the tennis balls. Learning to hit the smaller balls will help them focus, so when they get in a live game and they get to hit a bigger ball, it will be easier for them.