Lakeside High School Fastpitch Softball

Lakeside High School Fastpitch Softball

“Hitting”

Lakeside’s Hitting Philosophy is rather simple: “Attack the Ball!”

·  We believe in attacking any good pitch and not letting a pitcher get the upper hand if we can avoid it!

·  We believe our hitters should go up to the plate feeling confident that they can & WILL hit the ball!

·  We believe that hitters should want to hit the ball and will be ready to attack/hit EVERY pitch!

·  We believe in attacking the first pitch if it’s there!

·  We believe our hitters will be confident in their abilities because of practice & DAILY reps!

·  We believe that EVERY pitch is a good one to hit until we recognize it’s not a strike!

·  We believe that every hitter is UNIQUE and should have some allowance for individuality!

Approach: We don’t use all the fancy terminology and buzzwords; we keep hitting “simple” and

relate it in kid terms (the blue-collar approach)!

·  Every hitter has an individual style with stance; we don’t try to make all Lakeside hitters do the exact things. We do, however, want them to all be consistent with the swing, contact, and follow-through phases of an at-bat!

·  “Stance”, “Step”, “Swing” are the three (3) basic parts to what we teach our hitters. These each include the following:

1.  “Stance” – The comfortable, relaxed time during a hitter’s time in the batter’s box while awaiting a pitch.

·  Girls should get into the box where they feel comfortable (ideally, the front foot would be lined up somewhere between the front of home plate to the back tip of the plate, but it depends upon the pitcher’s speed, pitches, etc.).

·  All hitters should have a relaxed grip of the bat (either with the “knock-knock” knuckles aligned or both by having the middle and bottom sets of knuckles aligned – the “knock-knock knuckles” are best for an easier roll of the wrists or “getting the top hand over” for trying to maintain keeping the ball on a line rather than risking a high pop-fly). Also, ideally, the bat should be comfortably held at the base of the fingertips rather than in the palm (this allows for a faster bat and “roll” of the hands on the “swing”). Hitters who can still hold the bat handle in the palms is acceptable, however.

·  We would like to have our batters get their hands back in the “load” position (“hugging their back shoulder”) as the pitcher begins her delivery (first arm-swing motion). This enables our girls to already be ready to start the swing, rather than having to load while the pitch is on the way. Too many girls who load during the pitch are late with their swing. Girls can and WILL be able to generate a lot of power and still use a “baseball” swing (meaning “power”/”swinging from the butt”) if the timing is right (and it all begins with the loading of the hands)! From this point forward, there really should be NO backward movement…all momentum in the rest of the hitting process should be forward and toward the pitcher/ball!

·  Arms should be relaxed; wrists should be in a relaxed position as well. The bat-head should be pointed either back toward the catcher a bit or even back over the back shoulder. It should NOT be pointed toward the ground at all and should ALWAYS be at least parallel with the ground. Any angle of the bat that will be behind the batter’s head so that the bat-head is pointed back toward the pitcher or one of the bases is NOT ideal and causes a batter’s swing to eventually be “slow” – because the point of hitting is to get the barrel of the bat to the ball as FAST as possible. Batters should try hard also to NEVER let the hands drop below the chest level; they should almost always stay up by the back shoulder until the swing begins, at which point the path to the ball is direct and the hands go toward the ball.

·  Before the pitcher begins her motion, batters may ideally do “whatever” they want to also have a little rhythm for some momentum and timing. If they want to wiggle their bat a bit, wiggle their fingers, or whatever, that is fine. All should become “quiet”, however, once a pitcher begins her motion.

·  Hitters legs should be slightly relaxed and bent a bit (the “athletic position”) once the pitcher begins her motion. The feet should ideally be about shoulder-width apart or just slightly less.

·  Eyes and head should be facing the pitcher the entire time, and hitters should focus on the pitcher’s throwing hip, ready to hit what she throws out of that chute/window! The hitter’s chin will almost be touching her front shoulder.

·  During this time, hitters should stop thinking about what to do and simply just concentrate on having fun, getting the job done, and hitting the ball HARD!! Think time is over; just REACT!

2.  “Step” – The movement (or lack thereof for some batters) of the front foot toward the pitcher/ball as the hitter begins the swing process.

·  With the hands in the “load” position in the “stance” phase, a hitter’s next move should be having some body motion with the front foot. Some batters step with a small (no more than 12” step should occur) step directly toward the pitcher. For those who have a hard time stepping out (or toward either the 1st- or 3rd- baseline), a “step” by simply just lifting the front foot and putting it down will help to generate some momentum toward the pitcher/ball and will enable the hitter to better be able to get the hips ready to turn in the “swing” phase.

·  Ideally, a batter’s front step (or “stride”) should be no more than 12”, and the step’s distance should be one that enables the batter to remain balanced. Too big of a step can cause the hands to “dip” below the chest, causing an upper-cut swing later.

·  Some hitters like to “step” with the front foot as a pitcher begins her first motion; others will take their “step” as the ball is on the way. Either way, before a girl can begin to “swing”, her front foot’s toe and heel ideally should be planted before the “swing” can/should begin. Some coaches teach “Dance with the pitcher”: Her toe touches the ground; your front toe touches. Her heel hits the ground; your front heel touches. Again, style…whatever works for individual batters. If a hitter can step to the pitch as the ball is the way to the plate, and her timing remains good, then go with what works.

·  During this “step” phase, every hitter’s hands MUST still be kept in the “load” position to enable her to have a powerful, fast swing, and to also not be way out front and off-balance. By also keeping her hands in the “load” position, a hitter will be able to still have a smooth, powerful, fast swing that generates some pop even if she is fooled by some off-speed pitch or curve/slider by a pitcher.

3.  “Swing” - The act of violently “throwing” the hands/bat to the ball by getting the core (hips) turned to the pitcher to start the hands powering through the strike zone, making powerful contact with the ball.

·  Once the batter has planted her front foot (toe and heel), she should be at this time ready to start her swing (but it happens simultaneously and instantaneously).

·  Her swing begins by turning her back hip toward the pitcher/ball, and this hip-turn will then enable her to “throw” her hands/bat directly toward the ball. On this rotation (or “throw”) of the hands to the ball on the hip-turn, the batter should be certain that her hands & back elbow stay as close to her body as possible.

·  It’s also important that the hitter’s back shoulder doesn’t “drop” (or angle) down toward the ground so that her front shoulder is higher. This is bad because a hitter will have a greater chance of hitting a pop-fly. We want line-drives or hard grounders.

·  Ideally, we want a “level” swing, but the only way a girl will truly have a “level” swing is if the pitch is at perfect, belt-high, table-high height. So the notion of a “level swing” isn’t always accurate. What we need, then, is the bat-head (barrel) to be rotated (or thrown) toward the ball so that the hitter is ALWAYS trying to keep the bat-head either on the top-half or centered (squared-up) to the ball at the point of contact. THIS is what helps a batter have a better chance of hitting a line-drive or hard grounder.

·  At the point of contact the top hand should have a “palm-up” look, and the bottom hand should have a “palm-down” look. The back elbow will almost (if not) be touching the hitter’s side/belly area (and the back arm will NOT be fully extended at point of contact YET).

·  The chin/head/eyes should be totally focused on the ball at the point of contact. The old saying of “shoulder-to-shoulder” will occur with the hitter’s chin. Her chin should begin to become in contact with her back shoulder so that she sees the ball. Sayings like “head down”, “nose to the ball”, “eyes on”, etc. will help to remind a girl of this.

·  At this point of contact, a hitter should keep a firm grip of the handle of the bat for better contact and less chance of vibration and then “power” the hands through the ball, as if she is hitting a slightly deflated basketball. A slightly deflated basketball will not go very far UNLESS a hitter explodes her hands through the ball and finishes with a follow-through. The follow-through enables a slight bit more power, and the ball will tend to “jump” off the bat a bit more.

·  Her front shoulder should still be in (pointed toward the pitcher) and not stepped out and pointed toward either 1st or 3rd base. It’s the follow-through phase of the “swing” where the front shoulder explodes through the zone and “pulls out”. By keeping her front shoulder in, this also enables her to have a better chance of keeping her hips/waist from leaning away from the ball during the swing.

·  Also at this point of contact, a hitter’s upper body should be slightly leaned over getting ready to attack the ball. A hitter CANNOT allow her hips/waist to pull away from the ball. This will take her power away from the ball. By keeping her upper body slightly bent over toward home plate, it will enable her to keep the hips/waist from pulling during the follow-through. (See note above about front shoulder.)

·  At the point of follow-through, a hitter’s upper body should either be slightly bent over (hunched) the plate or totally erect (tall). This will help a hitter to avoid from pulling her power away from the ball by leaning backward or arching to the sides.

·  After contact and into the “follow-through” phase, a hitter’s top hand should begin to “roll” over the bottom hand to help maintain a smoother follow-through and help to enable a bit more of a line-drive or hard grounder (if everything else was done correctly).

·  During this entire “swing” phase, a hitter’s hands should be flying through the zone at a high rate of speed…the hips generate the beginning of the “throwing of the hands” (one can also envision that the bottom hand is pulling the bat through the zone and taking the bat-head to the pitcher/ball as fast as humanly possible, with a lot of help from the back-hip turn). If a hitter’s hands don’t go fast through the zone, solid, hard contact will usually not be a result. Sometimes a hitter doesn’t have to have super-fast hands/bat speed if a pitcher throws hard, though! But fast bat-speed definitely helps, provided a hitter has good mechanics on the angle of the swing and body positioning as well.

·  On the follow-through of the swing, ideally the hands should stay on the bat through completion of the swing AND the hands should finish “high” – up behind the front shoulder. Some girls try to hit their upper back between the shoulder blades with the bat, but that is not recommended. This usually means a batter has lost power because her wrists “rolled” too soon and power has been lost.

·  When the “swing” is complete on the follow-through, oftentimes a hitter’s back foot will be in the “L-shape” but not always. The concept of teaching a hitter to “squish the bug” or “put out a cigarette” isn’t always the case for every hitter. As long as a hitter is generally balanced at the end (she won’t be there for long, as she will be running toward 1st base), good contact will usually occur. We prefer that a batter ends up with her upper body slightly hunched over the plate and toward the pitcher/ball (as her momentum should be all going forward through the ball) and her weight evenly balanced so that there is no more weight on either the front foot or back foot, but again…this isn’t always the case, and we should allow for individual differences if whatever a hitter is doing is working!

These are just some of the basics we believe in how we teach our kids to hit. We teach one style, but there are various styles/techniques out there. Again, we work with each kid and adapt our philosophy to her approach. We have had much success with this, and believe that every girl who works at it and implements the instruction she gets from us, she will become a much better hitter and will have more confidence at the plate. We want HITTERS and the “ATTACK THE BALL” mentality that goes with hitting! Every girl should ultimately go to the plate believing she can AND will hit the pitch off of ANY pitcher and against EVERY type of pitch. She will hit the best a pitcher has to bring!!