This study extends the findings of Keetch, Schmidt, Lee, and Young (2005), who proposed the term especial skills to describe a skill distinguished by its greater performance capabilities relative to members of the same class. The first purpose was to examine whether the especial skills phenomenon exists at the 60.5-foot distance for experienced pitchers, and whether self-efficacy could explain the effect. A second purpose was to examine whether parameterization changed from prototypical to specific exemplar-based processes with massive amounts of practice. Seven community college pitchers threw 3 sets of 6 pitches over 2 days at a target randomly moved over 9 distances (36.5 to 84.5 feet) from an indoor pitching mound, with normal contextual cues removed. Measures of self-efficacy were calculated for each distance based on pitchers' perceived capacity to throw 6, 12, and 18 "strikes" out of 18 throws at the target. Mean percentage strikes were calculated from the 18 pitches for each player at each distance. Regression analyses indicated a curvilinear decrease in accuracy with distance (R² = .55). However, accuracy at 60.5 feet (.301) was 42% better than regression-predicted accuracy (.212, p < .02), clearly suggesting "especial skill" formation. Self-efficacy data conformed to a simple linear relationship, with no special effect apparent at the 60.5-foot distance, indicating that greater accuracy could not be explained by players' recognition of or "confidence" in that distance. Moreover, accuracy at 60.5 ft. was significantly superior to both the 59.5-foot (.191) and 61.5-foot (.198) distances (both ps < .05), failing to support change from prototype to specific exemplar processes as an explanation. The results of this investigation provide strong support that the especial skills phenomenon exists in cases other than the original basketball findings, and that the process is not explained by self-efficacy. Further, the lack of generality to closely proximal distances (59.5 feet and 61.5 feet) indicates that the phenomenon is not explained by specific exemplar parameterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]