Brian A Garnell

Do the pitch/swing/acting with no ball, take a digital still of the ball, cut it out in photoshop, import into fcp, shrink it down to size and spinn it/move it around with the motion tab, add blur. Lighting will be off, but the scene will generally have soft lighting and the ball will be spinning. It'll work for quick and dirty and mildly cheesy.

You'll be much happier with this geny from Honda. Super quiet, carry it with one hand, runs a 1200 HMI no problem.