The disclosed invention is drawn to a motorized fielding system capable of launching balls at a wide range of trajectories defined by its distance and orientation with respect to its yaw and pitch axes. This system comprises a chassis assembly; a motorized yaw mechanism comprising of a rotary table that can spin about a yaw axis; a motorized pitch mechanism comprising a launcher mounting plate that can be oriented along any one of a range of pitch angles, where the pitch mechanism further comprises a bottom side, a top side, and a plurality of attachment provisions to attach the pitch mechanism to the rotary table; a motorized ball launcher mechanism; a ball transport conduit; and a motorized ball feeder mechanism. The ball feeder mechanism, ball transport conduit, ball launcher mechanism, pitch mechanism, and yaw mechanism are arranged and physically coupled in a top-down order along a vertical stack.

A covert sports communication system has a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit both coded audio track selection signals and vocalization signals encoding vocalizations. The system includes a receiver that sized and shaped to be worn within headgear. The receiver includes stored audio tracks and is configured to receive coded audio track selection signals from the transmitter, decode the audio track selection signals, and play at least one stored audio track in accordance with the decoded audio track selection signals. The audio tracks may include audio instructions to a participant of a sporting event. The receiver is also configured to audible reproduce the vocalization.

A ball glove has a hollow zone at a ball impact zone. The hollow zone accommodates a drop-in assembly to provide adequate protection to the wearer of the ball glove without imparting stiffness to the crotch area or the ball impact zone of the ball glove. The ball glove opens/closes easily so as to provide control which players are seeking and creates a game-day-ready pocket based on the individual player's ball catching habits in a short period of time.

A wearable lower body garment for efficiently attaching and removing athletic padding, or in the alternative for enabling continuous wear of athletic padding. The lower body garment is made of durable and flexible material to allow a user freedom of movement. The lower body garment is worn as a pant-like garment that includes both flexible and adjustable straps to conform to a user's shape. The lower body garment has anchor points disposed on the outer leg portion and on the inseam that allow for attachment of athletic padding.

A multifunctional pitching machine has one or more enhanced safety features such as a finger shield, a hub cap, a tilt-assist grip, and a ball chute with elbow and linear portions. The pitching machine has a drive motor connected to a mounting assembly, a wheel assembly attached to a drive shaft of the drive motor, and a support assembly that supports the mounting assembly. A ball chute assembly connects to a pinch pad positioning the ball chute to direct a ball through the ball chute to engage a gripping portion of the wheel assembly pinching the ball between the pinch pad and the gripping portion to impart a propelling force to the ball. The wheel assembly may be a large, uncovered pneumatic tire and cast hub secured to the drive shaft by a single locking nut. The cast hub may be two-pieced to facilitate easy removal and tire changes.

A ball propelling apparatus is interchangeable between pitching mode and a pitch back mode. In the pitching mode, a ball propelling machine with a mounting assembly is supported by a support assembly at a height above a supporting surface. The support assembly connects to the mounting assembly. In the pitch back mode, a netting structure having a framework assembly and a ball-chute harness is provided and the framework assembly is connected to the mounting assembly while the ball-chute harness for connecting to the ball propelling machine. The framework assembly has a base assembly that is positioned to contact the supporting surface while supporting a net anchoring assembly to which netting is secured to capture and funnel thrown balls into the ball-chute harness. The balls that are funneled into the ball propelling machine by the ball-chute harness are pitched back toward the thrower.