Editor's note: On the national high school softball scene, a movement to change the pitching distance from 40 feet to the college standard of 43 is slowly gaining momentum. This week, The Courier is exploring the pros and cons of the change and where Iowa stands on the issue.

Part III in a series

Courier Sports Editor and KELLY BEATON Courier Sports Writer

During her high school softball career, Turkey Valley High School (Jackson Junction) standout Meagan Novotny has fired 25 no-hitters and struck out approximately half of the batters she has faced.

During the 2007 Iowa state high school softball tournament, there were nine 1-0 games, a 2-0 outcome and six contests settled by 2-1 margins. The eight teams in the four state championship games combined for 42 total base hits.

Those kinds of numbers are one reason many states are tossing around the merits of a change from the current 40-foot pitching distance at the high school level to 43 feet, where hitters have a fraction more of a second to react.

Against the top level of pitchers who throw in the 60 mph or faster range, most hitters currently have little chance to get a base hit and many often struggle to simply get the bat on the ball. And when two elite pitchers square off, the most meaningful games of the season can be decided by bloop hits or infield dribblers.

Statistics compiled by the Florida High School Athletic Association after the first two years of a three-year experiment with the 43-foot pitching distance leave little doubt that three more feet increases offensive production.

Singles, doubles and home runs all increased. Overall, base hits have gone up by 1.25 per game in Florida. Strikeouts are down by 3.44. Run production has risen from an average of 6.26 per contest to 9.75.

Florida's coaches have widely embraced the change. In a recent survey, an overwhelming majority of those responding voiced their approval:

- "In most of our games, 43 feet has allowed for a more fair hitting atmosphere. It encourages pitchers to learn more pitches. It evens the playing field between crafty and power pitchers. It also allows hitters and pitchers more reaction time."

- Holy Trinity High School

- "I think it evens out teams. More scoring, more athletes involved. It makes good pitchers average."

- Bloomingdale High

Taking sides

Offense has become the American way. From the professional level to the high school level, rules and equipment are constantly being tweaked to create more explosive, action-packed contests.

"Just go back to when we changed from the white ball to the yellow ball in Iowa," said Troy Dannen, outgoing executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. "We and Missouri were the last states using a cork-centered ball. Now all these balls have a poly center in them because those are the balls that fly over the fence.

"It's the never-ending battle for the Americanization of sport. Offense rules."

Waterloo Columbus coach Chris Simenson doesn't want games to become slugfests. His daughter, Laura, was a collegiate pitcher at the 43-foot distance, so he's seen the effect an extra three feet can have.

"Adjusting three feet makes a hell of a difference," he said. "It changes the dynamics. It'll turn the game into an offensive circus."

That could be most evident in Iowa's smaller classifications. At the big schools, there is more competition for playing time, most varsity pitchers don't become starters until they have command of several movement pitches and are able to throw in the mid- to upper 50s, and many have some experience in highly competitive Amateur Softball Association ball.

The same can't be said at many smaller schools with fewer players in their programs. They often send young pitchers to the circle who are not as physically or mentally mature. And when you slow the pitch down to 53 mph, for example, statistics show that a batter has 8.6 percent more reaction time at 43 feet than she does at 40 feet. That means more offense.

"I do think it would make it more of a hitter's game," said Ryan Jacobs, who was the head coach at Cedar Falls High before taking over at the University of Northern Iowa last season. "You will see increased offensive numbers, but I don't know that it will be a tremendous amount.

"I don't think it would necessarily change the game."

Besides Florida, Massachusetts is the only other state currently using the 43-foot distance.

The effects, said 30-year coaching veteran Thomas Grandy of Braintree High School, haven't been dramatic.

"It's a better game at 43 feet," argued the Boston-area coach, who led his squad to a Division I South sectional title this past season. "With the good pitchers, you can't even tell the difference.

"It's not like we're scoring 20 runs. There's a little more strategy."

Other concerns

Iowa coaches point to control, depth and the long-term health of young pitchers as more reasons to remain at 40 feet.

Three additional feet, they fear, will result in more walks and hit batsmen.

Florida's statistics show an average of 1.46 more walks per game since the move to 43 feet. Hit batsmen are up by .32 per game, although many of that state's coaches say those numbers will fall more in line with the 40-foot figures once more pitchers become accustomed to the change and young pitchers grow up throwing from 43 feet.

Columbus' Simenson said what works in one geographic area isn't necessarily good in another. Softball is a year-round game in warm-weather states like Florida, where summer ASA ball takes over following the spring high school season. That's not the case in Iowa, where the summer prep season limits players' opportunities for additional competition at the ASA level.

"The level of pitching we have in Iowa is not gonna be able to sustain pitching at 43 feet," said Simenson. "That's a very difficult adjustment, even for a college pitcher."

It's an argument Dannen has heard many times.

"At the high school level, the greatest concern is that the depth of pitching may not hold up to the 43-foot distance," he said. "It would have an effect at the top end that may be beneficial, but a negative effect for the masses."

Waterloo East coach Gene Laughlin is one of many Iowa coaches with an 8th-grade pitcher competing at the varsity level. It's possible that some young pitchers might develop mechanical flaws as they try to compensate for the extra distance and their lack of physical maturity. That, in turn, could lead to unnecessary injuries.

"How would her arm react to throwing three extra feet?" he pondered. "Throwing three extra feet … what you're saving in reaction time, you're losing in arm damage later on."

Next: Proponents of a change from the 40-foot high school pitching distance to the college standard of 43 feet say the current standard is limiting opportunities and discriminating against female athletes. Yet support for a change is weak in Iowa.

Contact Doug Newhoff at (319) 291-1467 or doug.newhoff@wcfcourier.com. Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com