Several rule changes will impact girls interscholastic softball in Wisconsin next spring.

The WIAA Board of Control recently approved changes to the distance between the pitching rubber and home plate, introduced an optional change in extra-innings procedures and revamped the sectional tournament schedule.

Prep softball pitchers in Wisconsin will wind and throw from the middle of a circle 43 feet from home plate, which is three feet longer than last season.

“The reason they’re doing it is to generate more offense,” Tomah High School softball coach Dan Wall said. “The pitchers are going to lose a little bit of velocity, but they’ll gain a little movement. It does reduce the number of strikeouts.”

Wall believes it will have a positive impact on his pitchers.

“I’d rather see some more movement from our pitchers,” he said. “You can always catch up with speed.”

There had been sentiment expressed at recent area meetings to wait until the National Federation of State High School Associations-mandated 2011 deadline for the 43-foot distance to give schools that play on city-owned fields more time to make the change. The Board of Control pushed it through for the upcoming season, seeing no reason to postpone the inevitable and to give pitchers a chance to practice at the new distance over the next five months.

Tomah School District Activities Director Tom Curran said the change won’t create an inconvenience.

“It’s not difficult at all,” Curran said. “Dig it up, move it back three feet, and dig it back in.”

The pitching distance isn’t the only significant change in prep softball next spring. The WIAA sectionals-- traditionally a three-game event in which semifinals and finals are played on the same day -- will be split into two days (a Tuesday and a Friday). The board approved having the higher-seeded team host the sectional semifinals in Division 1, where the entire sectional is seeded. Sectional semifinals will continue to be pre-assigned in Divisions 2, 3 and 4, as will all sectional championship games.

Wall doesn’t like the change.

“It won’t be a tournament atmosphere,” Wall said. “There’s a little bit more of a buzz when you have four teams at the same field.”

Curran said the change will be easier for the fans. Without the doubleheaders, games will start later, and more fans can travel with their teams. When Tomah played in the 2006 sectional, its first game was scheduled on a Tuesday at 1 p.m. to accommodate a 4 p.m. sectional final.

In 2010, the sectional semifinals are scheduled for June 8, and the sectional finals are June 11.

Both Wall and Curran were skeptical of the international tiebreaking rules for extra innings. Under those rules, if a game is tied after seven innings, each team will start an extra inning with the player who completed the last official at-bat as a runner on second base.

The rule is voluntary and could be used only if both teams agree in advance.

“Personally, I don’t like it,” Wall said. “I really believe a team needs to earn a baserunner.”

Wall said teams would use the re-entry rule to put a fast runner on second base to start the inning.

“All of a sudden, that runner may be your speedster,” he said.

Curran was more open to the idea.

“My first thought is that I’d rather play two extra innings and then go to the international rule,” he said.

Tomah’s 2010 softball opener is April 6 at home against Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau.

Rob Hernandez of Lee Newspapers contributed to this report.