Cranking the ball in practice but not in a game

[obbay]

U12 DD can crank the ball in the cages or when doing soft toss, but in games she does not crush the ball.
any ideas what to do to allow the hitter in her to emerge?

All I can think of is more live pitching in BP on the field.

 

[WinThemAll]

It's confidence that comes with experience. . .it will come.

 

[redhotcoach]

Last week end of bp, had fielders on, I could name players in all positions and DD would hit lines right toward them. Weekend tourney she hits everything into clouds. Told her on one "good thing it's daytime, you'd be fined for not having a warning light on that going up into flight paths" next at bat, told her the center fielder left when you hit, went to the bathroom, came back and caught your fly ball.

Sometimes it's just a dreaded in game curse that you can't help.

Pride is spot on. My dd hit one hr a month ago, for the next few weeks she could close her eyes and hit a flying nat for a line drive through a gap. Then she faces a pitcher that gave her trouble last year, has 3 poor at bats, and has been fighting to get it back since.

 

[maksoftball]

90% of the GAME is mental. With experience and patience and confidence, the rest will fall into place. The hardest part is patience and keeping the faith (for confidence). Just encourage and support her through her hard efforts/practice...

 

[obbay]

Thank you. sounds like mental/confidence/experience- just something that takes time.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Another angle of the "mental" part is she could be "thinking too much" on a real at-bat.

DD here is a pitcher. I think this is good and bad (as far as power is concerned).

She gets into practice and is just downright scary to the ball.

She gets into games and she becomes more of a surgeon. This has meant great at bats and balls sprayed all over the field with the location of the pitch. But it has also meant the HR's get limited to a degree.

Then I look back and see her average and her clutch hitting and her almost zero K's and I think back to my BB days and remind myself "Rod Carew was a pretty good hitter wasn't he.....". Then I question the tradeoff of a few less HR's.

 

[JAD]

My DD has the same problem. She will 'lean in' when hitting soft toss or against a pitching machine, but she has a tendency to 'lean out' against a live pitcher. One of the mental issues created by being HBP several times over the years. Also watch for her 'stepping out' against a live pitcher. Video her at bats in the cage and against live pitching and compare her swings. A lot of girls also have a tendancy to swing hard in the cage, but swing 'not to strike out' in a game.

 

[8isgreat]

My DD is going through the same thing - pitching machines in my opinion are the reason. The pitch is always perfect and down the middle - my DD needs more off speed, change ups, curve balls, drop, rise, etc. to really be able to connect. When she's up to bat with a live pitcher she tends to come forward a bit with her arms then go back - during cages she's stock still. It's weird. Last night she hit twice - flied out to deep left field and grounded out to second. Hopefully it changes soon...!

 

[Mr T]

Is it that she loses a lot of bat speed, swings tentatively in the games? Or is she striking out, being late on pitches, hitting pop flies, pulling grounders?

If she is just swinging tentatively then it's more about coaching her approach to an at bat.

There can be mechanical problems too. You can get away with a lot off the tee or soft toss that you can't off of real pitching.

 

[mcastles]

Successful hitting is very much a mental game, especially for the young girl. She obviously has a reasonable skill set or she wouldn't hit consistently in practice, either. Clearly, live pitching in a game is the most difficult, plus you have the issue of making the dreaded "mistake". Believe me, this is paramount in the minds of young girls.

The approach I have been trying with my DD is working her fundamentals off the tee and pitching machine and then practicing live pitching, visualizing game situations. It is amazing how much it helps to visualize that game situation and the feeling of that knot in the stomach, even when I am doing the pitching (and I am not very good). But it forces her to pick good pitches, see the motion of the arm, etc. Then when she is in the game situation, the feeling is not so foreign and the message is 'see it, hit it', nothing more. IMHO, there is nothing worse than over thinking, especially at his age.

As Charlie Manual said, "Full head, empty bat"

Just my 2 cents, good luck