By Jason McDaniel
Chronicle correspondent

Kingwood Park softball coach Sara Kainer already is looking forward to next season.

The UIL is adopting a new National Federation of State High School Associations rule for the 2010-2011 school year that increases the distance from the pitching circle to home plate from 40 feet to 43 feet.

And Kainer says that can only benefit her team and her top returning pitcher, Alicen Morris.

“It’s an awesome thing for the game,” Kainer said. “It’s going to prepare these kids who want to play at the next level, getting them into college and taking the right steps. And the other thing is fans like to see hitting and it’s going to make the sport not so dominated by the pitchers.

“You’re going to need more than just a pitcher and you’re going to see a lot more runs scored, which people like to see.”

The rule is, in part, a way to increase scoring by taking away some of the dominance from the game’s most dominant pitchers, who usually ending up leading their teams deep into the playoffs.

The extra distance pitchers have to cover likely will affect the ones who rely on velocity more than those who get by on movement and location, but Kainer sees the change impacting everyone early on.

“It’s definitely going to affect the hard throwers, but I think it will affect them all at the beginning because pitchers who rely on spin will have to learn how to adjust the spin differently with the extra three feet,” Kainer said.

Kainer says Morris, who will lead the Lady Panthers in the circle if she doesn’t move out of the district, which she talked about after last season, falls into the latter category as more of a finesse pitcher.

That’s why she sees the rule change helping her team, evening things up for them against the teams that have that truly dominant thrower in the circle.

“(Morris) doesn’t throw the ball really hard,” Kainer said. “She’s more of a movement pitcher, but we’ll have to see. It will take a lot of hard work in the fall for her, and she’s pitching this summer so she’s hopefully getting adjusted to it a little now.”