Help with PUlling front shoulder...

My daughter is a very good hitter. Recently she has begun to pull her front shoulder, shoulders look like they pull back and almost looks as if shes arching her back. She still hits the ball....but I think this is causeing her to pull all pitches and create alot of spin on the ball. Is there a drill or suggestions that can
help get her back on track and get all of her power into the ball?

Thanks

Here is a drill Elliott posted last year when I asked the same question. I used this with my player, and it worked (1st Team PA All-State catcher). Thanks, Elliott! (It's stuff like this that keeps me coming back to this board. There's nothing else out in cyberspace like this place for fastpitch softball.)

"Shoulder Flying Open Drill

Here is a way to find out if she is opening up too soon.

Go get some PVC about 1 inch in diameter. Cut it to the length of her bat. Tell DD to hold the PVC like she is holding the bat in front of a tee. Put a softball or a wiffle ball on the tee. Your choice.

You stand directly across from DD on the other side of the tee. Tell DD to take her bottom hand off the PVC and stick it straight out to you arm fully extended. She will need to be tilted to do what you request.

Stick your hand out and tell her to put her hand right against yours palm to palm, finger to finger. Tell DD to swing under both your arms with the PVC and hit the ball. Make sure you are far enough away that she doesnt hit you. Have been hit a couple of times because I got too close.

If DD pulls her hand off yours when she swings then she is opening up too soon during the swing. Watch the back arm to make sure she is getting it into the slot correctly and not right beside the body. There should be 3 to 4 inches between her back elbow and her body when she comes around the corner with her swing.

This is a Olympic team drill developed by Candrea to stop opening up too soon or as some say pulling of the ball. Of course they use real bats but kids are not that strong to swing a full sized bat. That is why you use the PVC.

It works. Give it a shot.

Elliott."

MountieSB, thanks for the info sounds like a great drill.

A couple of questions. You say we would have lean, I assume that would be backwards. then when she swings
is it a timing issue? I assume that at some point her front hand would have to come off of yours. Is it reallyh WHEN
it comes off?

Thanks

Sponge

The lean is really what some call "tilt," and it's a tilt of the back shoulder down toward the plate (to maintain proper hand position and bat angle as it comes through the hitting zone), not backwards. Take a look at some of the pictures/swing clips of hitters posted on this site as the shoulders rotate. The back shoulder rotates and tilts in toward the plate as the elbow closes the gap after separation and it slots or "stacks" at connection. (These are Don Slaught and Mike Candrea terms that we use in our program).

When I did the drill with my hitters, we kept the front hand in contact with their partner all the way through the swing and the bottom/front hands never lost contact. I think keeping the hands together makes the drill more effective for not pulling off the ball. I would try to do this while maintaining contact with the bottom/front hands during the drill.

I hope this helps. Good luck!