We have a fairly new 10U team. 7 girls just moved up from coach pitch 8U, the other 4 are returning 10u girls. We have one designated hitting practice a week, involving soft toss, t-work, bunting, and machine pitching hitting. All the girls do good/great during practice. I even turn the machine up to 45-48 mph during practice and still get good results(over 80% contact rate).
BUT as soon as we get into a game, we can't get the girls to get the bat off their shoulders!!! We tell them to swing at anything close, ask them to bunt, insist that the only way to win is hit the ball.
Nothing works. We had 3 games yesterday and had 21 strikeouts. 16 were looking. None of the opposing pitchers were really wild, pitched around 35-40mph, no one got hit. The strike zone was exaturated but nothing out of the ordinary. This wasn't our first tournament. They've played 12 games this fall before this but this was the first time we seen more consistant pitching(more strikes).
This isn't a mechanic's issue( I don't think), this is a confidence or fear issue(IMO).
I asked the girls after the games what I can do to help them, I asked them if they were scared. I did get a few to raise their hands at that but these are the same girls that hit well off the machine. One said that they didn't think they were strikes.
I'm at a loss as what other things to do to build confidence to swing the bat.... help anyone????
BUT as soon as we get into a game, we can't get the girls to get the bat off their shoulders!!! We tell them to swing at anything close, ask them to bunt, insist that the only way to win is hit the ball.
Nothing works. We had 3 games yesterday and had 21 strikeouts. 16 were looking. None of the opposing pitchers were really wild, pitched around 35-40mph, no one got hit. The strike zone was exaturated but nothing out of the ordinary. This wasn't our first tournament. They've played 12 games this fall before this but this was the first time we seen more consistant pitching(more strikes).
This isn't a mechanic's issue( I don't think), this is a confidence or fear issue(IMO).
I asked the girls after the games what I can do to help them, I asked them if they were scared. I did get a few to raise their hands at that but these are the same girls that hit well off the machine. One said that they didn't think they were strikes.
I'm at a loss as what other things to do to build confidence to swing the bat.... help anyone????