Softball hack attack machines

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Sports Attack analyzed the existing softball pitching machines in 2003 we found that the basic design had not changed for many years. There had always been little attention to safety, portability or ease of operation and the majority of the machines were very awkward and difficult to operate, especially for women. The most popular unit at the time was a snubbing-action inefficient one-wheel machine that experienced excessive recoil, high ball wear, but most importantly, could not duplicate the riser and other breaking pitches that are standards of the game. 

To learn more about each machine click the name of the product: Elite eHack Attack, I-Hack Attack, Hack Attack and Junior Hack Attack.  

The design began by identifying wheels as the most efficient ball throwing mechanism. Wheels can throw breaking pitches, provide accuracy, and deliver the much-needed speed. The true uniqueness to our machine is the use of a third wheel. The location of the three wheels visually opens the ball chute, allowing the hitter to see the ball through acceleration and release, providing complete vision and timing. By simply changing wheel speed, any breaking pitch could be instantly dialed in as the third wheel eliminated the need to pivot the throwing head when changing pitches. Accuracy and ball control were also improved due to the increased amount of ball surface being captured. Additional benefits of the third wheel were a reduction of throwing wheel and ball wear. 

The first arm machines that were used were unguarded, leading to some very tragic accidents. Arm machines then needed to be heavily guarded, limiting the vision advantage. Due to the enormous recoil generated by the arm, the machines also had to be bolted to concrete pads, making them stationery and not available for field or fungo work. Even today arm machines remain bulky and massive. The strengths of this design were some level of vision and timing. The weaknesses were that it was limited to only fastballs, completely immobile and still carried a concern for safety.