Struggling to throw strikes

[HasBeenorNeverWas]

Is she missing in one particular area, such as outside to a righty, more than others, or is she just all over the place?

Nope, just all over the place. She will have a great first inning, strike out one or two in a second inning then all of a sudden walk the next 5 batters. I want to help her, because I feel like she has potential but it's beyond me at this point idk what else to do to help.

 

[BrianTx01]

You might try to simplify her delivery until she becomes more consistent. Start back instead of step back might help.

 

[efastball]

She will have a great first inning, strike out one or two in a second inning then all of a sudden walk the next 5 batters.

Video the first, then video the 3rd. Spot the difference.

 

[Cornbread]

Timing is off some. Weight transfer is kinda slow from stride foot to drive foot. Try to get moving forward as the ball passes the hip on the backswing.

 

[wheresmycar]

I would simplify the pre-motion. She brings the ball WAY back behind her head, which is causing her shoulders to twist. This is throwing her arm circle off... She recovers well, but, this introduces a variable she must adjust for, and creates inconsistency. Try bringing the ball back less, and focus on keeping shoulders square to target during the pull back.

Oh, and no replacement for time and reps...

 

[DNeeld]

Nope, just all over the place. She will have a great first inning, strike out one or two in a second inning then all of a sudden walk the next 5 batters. I want to help her, because I feel like she has potential but it's beyond me at this point idk what else to do to help.

In the limited videos you posted, her basic technique is not bad. My bet would be she gets a little "sloppy" as the innings go on, losing a stable platform.

Think of a rifle on the tripod. If the tripod isn't stable, your shots are going to go all over the place. Same concept.

Resolution would be working on increasing stamina and body awareness when things start to fall apart. Focus in particular on core strength so she can hold the four points of resistance constantly over many pitches. Crack the walnut with her glutes, tighten her core as the pitch is delivered, etc.

Front Side Resistance

I had mentioned this topic in a prior thread and was urged to put up a thread on it so here goes a very brief explanation. There are four major points of resistance a pitchers body needs to achieve in order to transfer energy. Missing any of these four will result in a less than optimal...

www.discussfastpitch.com

 

[Tatonka]

I'm going to agree with DNeeld here. Her basic mechanics are good (and will likely continue to get better with time (don't try to rush it). Having a solid, repeatable motion is critical. Being able to efficiently reproduce it takes time.

 

[sluggers]

I would simplify the pre-motion. She brings the ball WAY back behind her head, which is causing her shoulders to twist. This is throwing her arm circle off... S

View attachment 22143

IMHO, @wheresmycar is correct. Her arm circle is a mess.

The ball is four inches away from her body at release, and then her hand follows up and under her left shoulder. She looks like she is hitting a tennis topspin forehand.

Her hand should extend directly toward the target in the "Magician Finish". (See the attached image of Samantha Show.)

She needs to the drills in Boardmember's "IR in the Classroom" thread. The lock it drill, and the unlock it drill come to mind.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

As others have pointed out, I see a wobbly arm path (starting with the backswing), and a slight case of monkey butt at release. (What Sluggers said.)
It looks to me like she may be thinking about 'throwing' the ball still though (meaning that she's trying to snap/time a release with effort from her hand), rather than allow the ball to just be ejected.
Also, the drive foot is completely sideways and dragging on its side. Like an anchor. This is impacting her timing and hip position. I'd get that right foot a little more on toes, toes forward-ish.
Looks pretty good though. Correct the drive and get a little closer to body at release, she'll probably add 5mph too.

 

[HunterMO]

My DD struggles with consistency at times as well. She'll go 1-2-3 in one inning and then walk 2 or 3 the next. Something we are working on. Here are a lot of words, but really only a couple points that stuck out me.

From the past few years of working with my DD....here are my suggestions (some have already been mentioned).....
- start back vs step back: Let her do her here. My only suggestion is to have her stop dropping the heal of her left foot during the step back. Try to have her stay more on the ball/toes almost loading into. This will allow her to start her "thrust" from the back foot rather than simply transfer her weight back to the stride foot. This will make it easier for her to be in more of a sprinters position and get the right knee over the toes of her right foot. It's a small adjustment but made a HUGE difference for my DD. She might even say striding "feels" easier. The advantage of the start back (versus step back) with this is that a start puts her in a more traditional "sprinters" position to start with.


- swing back: Others have said her shoulders get twisted due to the extent of her swing back and I agree. I'd suggest lessening the amount of travel of her swing back. Timing here is key as well. A pitcher really needs to make sure the arm isn't still moving backwards while the rest of the body is starting to move forward. This will cause twisting of the shoulders and the arm circle to be "out of round" and late. Your pitcher looks like she recovers well, but as she gets into innings/pitches and gets tired this could be an issue of the arm starting to be late/sloppy. DD pitches out of the glove BUT can sometimes pull it down to/behind her right hip as she launches or will break from the glove really early causing the arm to be late. Usually results in pitches to be in the dirt or down and right.

- Hips: In my opinion she doesn't get back to 45(ish) at toe touch. Resulting in a bit of monkey butt and the arm being away from the body. My DD does the same and she fights consistency because of it. The first piece to help is to get her drag leg to be on the toes and not the inside of the foot. Get her to think laces to the catcher the whole time. She needs to get her hips to 45 at toe touch so she can create "brush" with the forearm. Simply put....laces forward, hips 45, & brush the belly/hip with the arm.

<-- Example of 45(ish) hips at toe touch/foot down.

There is A LOT of advice already in this thread. Please don't take it that your DD is some awful pitcher. The basics of her mechanics look good and pretty smooth. Some tweaks, reps, reps, and even more reps and she should become more consistent.