A pitching practice apparatus for indicating if a desired ball speed has been attained or exceeded in a defined strike zone comprising a pivoted ball target assembly for absorbing energy from the ball, a spring for storing the absorbed energy, a ball speed indicator with a signal device and a chassis with cover panels. In operation, a pitched ball impacting the defined strike zone will transfer kinetic energy to the ball target assembly which will convert the energy to rotational kinetic energy. The rotational kinetic energy is then stored as elastic energy of the spring. The ball speed indicator with signal device will sense the deformation of the spring and will indicate if the desired the ball speed has been attained or exceeded by the raising of a flag. The desired ball speed can be set by the user. The apparatus can be made to essentially stop the ball after impact or to allow the ball to rebound.