Team hitting

My 12u team has a lot of potential, pitching, defense good. Hitting is so close it's not funny. The team has power and decent mechanics some better then other. Our problem is contact point. We make contact to late and drive everything to the ground. How do u correct this issue? We have done tee work out in front, 2 tees one way out in front along with me telling them to make up there mind early and go meet the ball. Nothing is working. Strike outs are low, like 3 a game but we only score a few runs and lose by 1 or 2. Any advice on hitting at extension?

Thanks

What do you mean by ''hitting at extension''?

Just a stab in the dark here, but a lot of younger girls who routinely hit weak grounders to the opposite side are not striding forward, but stepping out. Unless the pitch is inside, that often results in dribblers toward F-3 or F-4 (for RH hitters).

I mean they let the ball travel to deep, most good hitters meet the ball before it gets to them allowing them to make contact just before extension then powering thru the ball and getting at full extension. Most is my players are hitting the ball on the way down not even close to extension.

The team has power and decent mechanics

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I think you should examine this statement and decide what is your criteria. There can be so many reasons why kids ground out. Two thoughts -

1) Tee swings may not be a good guide. Their game swing may be totally different. The only way to know is video.

2) Try and get some game video. You'll quickly see if contact is really late or if other factors like swing path may really be the factor.

If you are serious (and I can tell you are) you and the folks here need better info.

My kid has a few weeks every year that she is rolling her top hand over, the end of the barrel starts raising up before and through contact. Result is topped balls hit hard into the ground about 8 or so feet out. Usually when she hasn't worked with me for a long time .

Tee swings don't help at all if that is the issue IMO.

Get video, or look for what their barrels are doing. I know it is hard when you coach to see from the baseline, and find someone else to do front toss so you can watch for it. We go back to working on coil and launching hard into the coil.....but an easier fix in between games, I will tell her to think about throwing the top hand through, and getting the top of the barrel top point at the pitchers head or just above top stay through the zone longer. (think of home run derby release top hand swings)


I think a thought of trying to get extension is a hinderance vs launching early or throwing top early and ALLOWING extension. When you throw a ball, you are putting all you have into it while the ball is still behind your head. Not putting a huge amount of effort when the ball is getting out front, but just still guiding the launched ball.

As lhowser said hard to know what's up but if they are facing better pitching and are simply late (with otherwise good swings) a good first step is to teach them to load slow and early with the understanding that they must read the pitch and decide to swing AS they load vs. waiting to read the pitch AND THEN starting their load/swing process.

A good trick is to get them to verbalize a sound -- eewwwwwww-yah, swiiiiiinnnng-now, -- with the long sound synched to the slow and early load/pitch read segment and the short sound timed to a sudden launch.

Now while there are significant mechanics requirements to create a sudden launch, just the idea of being slow and early and giving them a verbal cue so that they can feel it can be a first step toward helping them get better at *getting there on time.*

Thanks and I am serious about this. I will work on vidoes next week. I understand so much could be causing the grounders. We will play 1 great hitting game then 4-5 bad and it seems like the pitching doesn't matter. What I mean is while on the baseline I can see the contact point is late, if the pitchers throws 50 or 60 we are late doesn't matter. Then we play that 1 game and hitting everything out and front and knock the cover off the ball. We face some of the same pitchers and pitchers A we crush, then 3 weeks later same pitcher we can't get a base hit and I can clearly see the contact point is not out in front. I know my DD swing more then she does and for her it's all about contact point out in front. Her swing is mechanically sound for a 12u player, many hitting coaches have told us.

It's like a disease, one struggles they all struggle, one hits they all hit.

I'be coached 12s for years. In my experience, if you have girls hitting, work on getting them to hit harder, thru the infield. One drill that worked for me was throwing old bats. When they swing harder, those grounder start turning into line drives.

I love hard hit ground balls. As someone on DFP wrote in another thread (great post) only one thing has to happen on a fly ball. D makes the catch. Runners freeze. On a ground ball, D must do 3 must do 3 things, field the ball, make a throw, and tag a base or runner. And runners are free. Especially at 12s, when some Ds are still making more errors, make this a positive. Work on hitting those grounders harder.

I never know what people mean when they discuss "extension." It is literally something I've never taught. The suggestion for video is an excellent one. There are experts here that will help you. I also don't know what you mean by saying that they are letting the ball get too deep. I find work hard trying to get some players to let the ball get deep. Are these two balls too deep?

CB - Those aren't too deep for BB because she got her barrel on plane early enough to square them up. For hitters with a more "out front" swing, making contact that deep will result in a weak-mediocre ground ball, often to the right side.