Thread: Swing Sequence

I've been following MANY of the threads on these boards for several weeks now. I found a MILLION and ONE things I have been doing wrong in trying to improve my DD's swing. Just a quick background: She consistantly makes contact, and has excellent plate discipline, but she lacks any power or velocity in her swing. Hits all weak ground balls and infield pops.

I found the Megan 1 - Tee post incredibly helpful. I do however have a few questions regarding the conversation around sequence. I think that is where I need to start with her. I want to understand everything that needs to happen, and then we will break it down and work on it step by step. So here is my understanding of what takes place, please correct me if I am wrong. Going to bullet these for ease of reading. (Assuming Right handed hitter)

1. Balanced start with feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Flex in the knees and slight forward bend at the hips.
2. Pressure builds on the ball of the right foot as a result of a static rotation of the right leg causing the right butt cheek to move slightly to 6 O'Clock, assuming pitcher is at 9 O'clock.
3. Left foot lifts from the ground and begins to move toward footplant as the hands move toward 3 O'clock.
4. At left toe touch, the coil should be complete, hips and hands "fully loaded". (Do the hands continue toward 3 O'Clock as the hips begin to uncoil or do the hands and hips reach the full negative at the same time?)
5. The hips begin to rotate counter clockwise as the forward surge shifts the weight to the front leg, while maintaing a center of gravity over the inward bent right knee.
6. The right heel should not twist back toward 3 O'Clock but rather the push off the inside of the right foot should result in the toe pointing directly downward (no negative movement)
7. This is where I get very confused with the beginning of the hand movement. I know where they should be in the contact zone, but don't understand the begin of the forward motion. I have read criticism about being in a palm up/palm down position too far back in the swing, which is exactly what my DD does..

I appreciate any help the experienced swing analysts have to offer.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Herbertj1

I've been following MANY of the threads on these boards for several weeks now. I found a MILLION and ONE things I have been doing wrong in trying to improve my DD's swing. Just a quick background: She consistantly makes contact, and has excellent plate discipline, but she lacks any power or velocity in her swing. Hits all weak ground balls and infield pops.

I found the Megan 1 - Tee post incredibly helpful. I do however have a few questions regarding the conversation around sequence. I think that is where I need to start with her. I want to understand everything that needs to happen, and then we will break it down and work on it step by step. So here is my understanding of what takes place, please correct me if I am wrong. Going to bullet these for ease of reading. (Assuming Right handed hitter)

1. Balanced start with feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Flex in the knees and slight forward bend at the hips.
2. Pressure builds on the ball of the right foot as a result of a static rotation of the right leg causing the right butt cheek to move slightly to 6 O'Clock, assuming pitcher is at 9 O'clock.
3. Left foot lifts from the ground and begins to move toward footplant as the hands move toward 3 O'clock.
4. At left toe touch, the coil should be complete, hips and hands "fully loaded". (Do the hands continue toward 3 O'Clock as the hips begin to uncoil or do the hands and hips reach the full negative at the same time?)
5. The hips begin to rotate counter clockwise as the forward surge shifts the weight to the front leg, while maintaing a center of gravity over the inward bent right knee.
6. The right heel should not twist back toward 3 O'Clock but rather the push off the inside of the right foot should result in the toe pointing directly downward (no negative movement)
7. This is where I get very confused with the beginning of the hand movement. I know where they should be in the contact zone, but don't understand the begin of the forward motion. I have read criticism about being in a palm up/palm down position too far back in the swing, which is exactly what my DD does..

I appreciate any help the experienced swing analysts have to offer.

Thanks!!

That's all pretty good. I'll post this again for upteenth time;

Best advice I can give u is go to gotbustos.com & get crystl bustos hitting video/ CD. She goes over whole hitting sequence. She breaks it down into 7 steps. Great info from the best hitter to ever play Fastpitch.

Originally Posted by Bflee350

Best advice I can give u is go to gotbustos.com & get crystl bustos hitting video/ CD. She goes over whole hitting sequence. She breaks it down into 7 steps. Great info from the best hitter to ever play Fastpitch.

I've heard that her video is only 4 minutes long. Of course, if that's all it takes, that'll work. I also heard that her clinics are great.

Originally Posted by softballphreak

I've heard that her video is only 4 minutes long. Of course, if that's all it takes, that'll work. I also heard that her clinics are great.

Perhaps this post may add some insight .....

Originally Posted by cshilt

Here is my interpretation of Crystl's 7 Steps:

Bustos - 7 Steps

1. Ready - Standing relaxed in the batter's box
• Measure off of the plate with the bat from the second outside corner of the plate, place the stride foot at the end of the bat.
• For most players use a slightly open stance, shoulder width apart. We can measure by placing the back foot instep against the ball of the stride foot to get a visual of the offset we're looking for.
• Get a good grip. Hold the bat down as if you were holding a golf club. Open your hands, now grip the handle with the middle two fingers of both hands, just letting the pinkie finger and index finger close loosely around the handle.
• Bring the bat up to rest on the rear shoulder with the hands below the chest.
• Look ahead to the pitcher. Head level with both eyes forward. The pitcher should be able to see "white" on both sides of the iris.
2. Set - When the pitcher is ready to start her motion, we get into our hitting stance
• Bend at the waist, soften the knees. The order is important. Bend slightly over, but not past the toes. Take the knees towards the toes without the hitter's waist "sitting" down. The weight should be on the balls of the feet and the hitter should feel more pressure on the big toe of each foot. Some may need to turn their feet slightly inwards, or "pigeon toed" to achieve the feeling. There should be almost no weight on the heels or pinkie toes.
  
• Elbows up. Bring the elbows up, lifting the bat off of the shoulder. The forearms will form the shape of a triangle. The hands should be at least as high as the top of the back shoulder and no higher than the ears. The bat should be at approximately a 45 degree angle, bisecting the head. She should be able to tap her ponytail with the barrel of the bat.
• Keep the head level and eyes forward to the pitcher.
3. Separate to Toe Touch - Stride and "walk away" from the hands
• As the pitcher's hands separate and the ball gets to about the 12 o'clock position, we perform a slight load by turning the stride foot knee slightly inward.
• As the ball is released, and prior to traveling half way to the plate, we stride forward onto the big toe of the stride foot. The stride foot heel is still off of the ground at this point.
• While the hitter strides forward the hands "stay" in the same place, as though she were "walking away" from them. The rear elbow should elevate slightly while the elbows of both arms maintain the same distance apart. The hands should be at, or slightly behind, the rear shoulder's armpits.
  
• The bat should remain "slotted", or continue to bisect the head.
4. Elbow-Knob-Box
• As the stride foot heel drops, we push off of the rear foot's big toe which lifts the rear foot's heel.
• While the rear foot's heel is lifting, we turn the triangle shape of the forearms into a box by keeping the lead elbow above the level of the hands while simultaneously lowering the rear elbow into the "slot" position (just in front of the hip).
• Although it is a pass-through position, the top hand will be stacked over the rear elbow or slightly ahead. If the hands are behind the rear elbow we get "bat drag", which is undesirable.
  
5. Release to Contact - Rotate as needed and take the barrel of the bat to the point of contact
   
• Think about rotating the belly button to the location of the pitch; toward the second baseman on an outside pitch (RH), toward the pitcher for an up the middle pitch, or towards the shortstop for an inside pitch.
• Transition the hands to contact by keeping the hands inside the ball in relation to the balls depth in the box and the pitch location. We allow the ball to travel deeper for an outside pitch and hit an inside pitch before the ball reaches the plate.
  
• Keep the palm of the back hand facing the direction you are trying to drive the ball.
• Release the angles of the wrists to send the barrel of the bat into the contact point.
• At contact we want the lead elbow to be above the hands and the hands to be above the barrel of the ball.
  
6. Extension - Hit through the ball
   
• Hitting "through" the ball is almost a no teach, however, some hitters stop at contact. We want our hitters to power through the ball.
• After contact the wrists roll and the arms become fully extended creating a "V" shape that many call the Power-V. The "V" should be towards the direction we are intending to hit.
  
7. Finish - Finish high
   
• After hitting through the ball we must allow the bat to decelerate. If our elbow, hands, and bat have followed a good path the follow-through should be above the height of the shoulders.
• The relative height of the follow-through will be dependent on the location of the pitch. Higher for a low pitch and more level with the lead shoulder for a higher pitch.
• Some hitters release the top hand during the follow-through, but this is individual for each hitter.

Thanks for the photo sequence jbooth, I appologize, I have seen that sequence several times in different posts. I've seen so many things that it makes my head spin!!! That photo sequece picking up where I left off in my steps now makes sense. FFS, thanks for the summary of the Seven Steps. I don't recall ever coming across that in my research.

Before I dive into any more purchases, I'm going to try to get started with what I know so far. If I spend another dime on "Softball Stuff" my wife is going to call and cancel my credit cards!!

One clarification if I may ask.... are the terms Bat Drag and Bat Lag used synonymously?

No bat drag is baddddd.Elbows leading the hands.Bat Lag is the position you want to be at in some point in your swing.Good.

bat lag.jpgExample_BatDrag_001.jpg examples of both.
First pic bat lag Second pic bat drag

Originally Posted by rdbass

bat lag.jpgExample_BatDrag_001.jpg examples of both.
First pic bat lag Second pic bat drag

Thanks for clearing that up for me rdbass, but would the second phote technically be club drag!!