Can't hit off real pitchers

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Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
So DD is taking hitting lessons and she does great in lessons. She can swing fast and her bat speed is way above average for her age. She can hit in the cages, she can hit off a pitching machine.
When she faces actual pitchers, she forgets how to hit.
She loses everything she's been taught, swings too slowly and is always hitting to the right side of the field.

She's facing faster pitchers now - she recently moved from 12U to 14U this season.

In hitting her instructor will throw inside/outside pitches to get her to be able to hit those.
In her first TB tournament she only struck out once and that was a called strike - she tends to let the outside pitches go. She's good at making contact.
She just isn't swinging fast enough when she makes contact.
We are going to ask her hitting instructor for some more tips but any ideas on stuff she can try?
I'm not sure if it's just mental during games that she is thinking about too much and forgets everything.
It's really frustrating to watch her ground out to second all the time :/
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
My DD was a "cage hitting phenom", she would kill it in the cages, then struggle against live pitching. After videoing a few of her at-bats, I noticed she was stepping out against live pitching almost like a defense mechanism to avoid being HBP. She did not do it in the cage, just live. Got a 2x6 and put it behind her feet in the batters box during live-pitch practice to help her realize she was stepping out.
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Repetition, timing, and practice... At the 14U A level I see girls who look like Bustos in the cage and soft toss. Coaches dote over them and put them in the upper slots in the line up. Come games, they can't hit. My DD has an average swing and in the cages looks so so. Get her in a game and it's a completely different story.
If you think your DD isn't swinging fast enough talk to her about making the adjustment. She will need to adjust at the 14U level as you have girls who can bring it and still some who are junk balling. Might be helpful to get her some practice against live pitching at a level above hers. Get her to hit off of a 16U or 18U pitcher in your organization.
Grounding out to second may be a swing issue. There are some very knowledgeable people here who can look at her swing and give you feedback if you post a video clip of it. Just know you're not alone. Many kids struggled making the transition from 12 to 14's.
 
Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
One of her biggest issues too is just getting the live pitching practice. She's a catcher so a lot of the time when the others are batting, she's catching :/
She's on both TB and rec at her rec practice last week, she didn't bat the entire time even though we do have one other catcher. We have more catchers in TB so at her last practice someone else caught so she got some practice then.
I think she also forgets mechanics when she comes up to bat too. Her hitting instructor will see her at games or we'll send her videos and she will usually tell us what's she's doing wrong. But it's always just swinging faster. We noticed it with lessons too that she'll swing really hard when hitting tennis balls but then she starts hitting regular softballs and her speed goes down.
Most of my videos are taken from right behind her so it's tough to see what she's actually doing.
 
Feb 16, 2015
933
43
South East
Being a 5 o'clock can be a hard thing to break. One of the things that seemed to help my DD was to not worry about the outcome. The only focus was to get her swing off and nothing else. If your DD can hit really well in the cage she just has to tell her self to get off her cage swing. I tell my DD to not even think about hitting the ball. That may sound crazy to some but it is what we do.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
DD had the fear of striking out. No one is going to yell at you if you strike out. Swing the dang bat.

Needed to expand her strike zone were she was swinging at bad pitches for a little while then pulled it back in.
 
Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
DD had the fear of striking out. No one is going to yell at you if you strike out. Swing the dang bat.

Needed to expand her strike zone were she was swinging at bad pitches for a little while then pulled it back in.

She actually swung at a pitch this past game where normally she wouldn't have because she thinks she knows more than the ump. She doesn't strike out much but if she does, it's because it's an outside pitch and she lets it go. We've told her she really needs to be more careful when she's got 2 on and watch for anything close. She ultimately hit a foul off the outside pitch but glad she swung for it.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
If you find that she is stepping out to avoid hbp like JAD mentioned, make part of her training learning how to correctly avoid a pitched ball. Use rolled up socks or something really soft for a ball and have her hit strikes, then pitch the ball very inside and have her turn front shoulder in and turn toward catcher to “protect her front side”. Most balls won’t hit her if she does this right and the ones that do glance off. This really helped my older dd, both having confidence to stay in the box and resultingly it improved her hitting.

Also, what she might be doing is “trying not to strike out” vs “trying to hit the ball hard”. Emphasize that what is important is taking three hard swings at good pitches per at bat. If she swings at good pitches, and swings hard at them, that trip to the plate is a success no matter what the result. When they approach the trip to the plate like their job is to keep the ball out of the catchers mitt, when their goal is to “not strike out”, you see half speed “goalkeeper” swings.

Last, do whatever you can think of the narrow the gulf between “training environment” and “game environment”. It can be difficult to make that transition, so find ways to make practice game like. Do it on a field, do scenarios, whatever you can think of. And have fun. Then have the same attitude for games. Good luck.
 

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