Always Late!!!

[Ken B]

Try having her coil/load as the ball passes over the pitcher's head and think swing on every pitch.
Kinda like:

Best I could come up with without digging...

 

[Tom]

Tom and Eric, she wears glasses and I actually brought that up with her dad the other day. He said she was tested about a year ago, and has been fine otherwise with them.

Another note, is that she loves playing catcher, and is one of 2-3 girls that can actually catch the ball when it's coming in. That makes me worry a little less about the vision issue, but it still could be the case, as she's squared with the ball while catching.

Do you know what she wears glasses for (farsighted, nearsighted, dominant eye etc)? This may give you an indication if any stance and positioning changes may help timing. I remember hearing about Kelly Kretschman going to an open stance when she discovered she had dominant eye last season and having a career year hitting as a result. Think David Ortiz did same thing.

One drill you may try to help get idea of starting earlier over is to use a volleyball or dodgeball for throwing BP (throw it pretty fast). Much easier to track and instant feedback on mis-hits, plus a 7 year old will think its funny to try and hit comebackers to nail you with it.

 

[Ken B]

Better example:

Off the machine, have her stand with the feet closer together with the stride toe barely weighted and the body already coiled/loaded.

 

[MacLobo]

Oops...Double post

 

[MacLobo]

Do you know what she wears glasses for (farsighted, nearsighted, dominant eye etc)? This may give you an indication if any stance and positioning changes may help timing. I remember hearing about Kelly Kretschman going to an open stance when she discovered she had dominant eye last season and having a career year hitting as a result. Think David Ortiz did same thing.

One drill you may try to help get idea of starting earlier over is to use a volleyball or dodgeball for throwing BP (throw it pretty fast). Much easier to track and instant feedback on mis-hits, plus a 7 year old will think its funny to try and hit comebackers to nail you with it.

I do not know what the glasses are for. I'll try that drill.
Another drill I thought of trying was during soft toss, instead of tossing it down the middle, I'll toss it straight at her front hip. If she doesn't get the bat head out front, it'll hit her in the hip (I won't be tossing hard, of course).

I'll also see if I can make a video at our game tonight and see how bad the bat drag is.

 

[Mr T]

Try having her coil/load as the ball passes over the pitcher's head and think swing on every pitch.
Kinda like:

Best I could come up with without digging...

If I understand this is a machine pitch scenario. Keep in mind that players with the most advanced timing mechanisms like the one you show here will hit the worst, and be thrown off the most, by pitching machines. Especially machines where you can't see the ball.

 

[Yellowjacket]

Two ideas
1). Make sure she is thinking yes, yes, yes, no on every pitch as opposed to no, no, no, yes on every pitch. Sometimes the batter does not begin their swing until they know it's a strike. This causes them to be latte on every pitch. Commit your forward motion with every pitch and stop if it's a ball. This is easy to diagnose as the batter never moves on a ball.
2). Have her count with you out loud 1, 2, 3 with every pitch. 1 load, 2 forward motion, 3 swing. This should help with her timing and she will understand where the swing should be in relation to the pitch

 

[chrispots]

I understand it's machine pitch but for the time PLEASE being don't use the machine. I have an 8 YO DD who is playing her 1st year of TB. I lived at 10U for a 4 years...

The pitching machine is the spawn of satan...it creates more timing issues than it will ever fix. I use the pitching machine to teach what a ball looks like...not to teach them to hit...

I like Quincy's idea of anything right of 2nd base is foul...

I like the yes, yes yes that Yellow jacket posted too...this might be helpful http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-practical/22223-so-damn-frustrated-3.html#post297249

One other thing to try...get her in her normal setup, stand about 10 feet away from her and soft toss balls at her lead shoulder. Her goal is to hit the ball 90* left (for a RH hitter). If she's late the ball will hit her. Once she gets it, stop and go back to regular front toss with some speed and see if she is starting to comprehend timing...CP

 

[canyonjoe]

One other thing is to look at her bat and make sure it's not too big. Sometimes Grandma finds out little Susie is playing softball and goes to Walmart and buys one
that's for a 12 year old.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Heck, my 18-year-old daughter is always early. Doesn't even know there's a right field. In fact, I think she fouls left 6 times for every left-center gapper. Wish we could mix the two hitters and correct these two problems.

I do like the Hugo suggestion, but I like it for being too early.