DD scared to get hit while batting

[LadyRangers2k11]

My DD was hit a few times now from 44-46mph pitchers and she hasn't bounced back. She does see a batting coach, Her swing is beautiful.Has good footwork, powerful,Make contact EVERYTIME in a batting cage, I can put her infront of a pitching machine and set it at 48mph and she will hit every one, but is VERY hesitant to swing at fast LIVE pitchers.When she steps into the box it's almost like she forgets how to swing, he mechanics seem to vanish and she freezes.She is very quick to jump out at several pitches that are strikes it's so frustrating.
I did have a small talk with her about the pitching machine and I noticed if I made a arm motion windup and pitched the ball she would miss, But if I gave ZERO indication that I'm about to release the ball into the machine she would smash it Everytime.Its very weird.
It seems there's a couple things wrong here but need some advice.
Is there ANYTHING I can do to help my daughter get over the fear of being hit or get her better timing or what can I say to help motivate her at the plate?
She is 9yrs old btw.
And we are in our first 6 months of 10U.

Thank you to everyone.

 

[BigSkyHi]

There are methods taught for how to avoid getting hit and how to best protect yourself when getting hit.

Have had some luck making a game of it. Using sponge balls, I get a point if I hit them or they don't swing at a strike. They get a point if they get out of the road or hit the ball.

They build confidence quickly.

 

[bmakj]

it is a tough nut to crack. luckily, while being a ball magnet, DD never seemed to mind getting hit all that much, other than on left elbow (we got her an elbow guard when she got hit their twice in one weekend). but then she is a catcher, part of her job.

 

[radness]

My DD was hit a few times now from 44-46mph pitchers and she hasn't bounced back. She does see a batting coach, Her swing is beautiful.Has good footwork, powerful,Make contact EVERYTIME in a batting cage, I can put her infront of a pitching machine and set it at 48mph and she will hit every one, but is VERY hesitant to swing at fast LIVE pitchers.When she steps into the box it's almost like she forgets how to swing, he mechanics seem to vanish and she freezes.She is very quick to jump out at several pitches that are strikes it's so frustrating.
I did have a small talk with her about the pitching machine and I noticed if I made a arm motion windup and pitched the ball she would miss, But if I gave ZERO indication that I'm about to release the ball into the machine she would smash it Everytime.Its very weird.
It seems there's a couple things wrong here but need some advice.
Is there ANYTHING I can do to help my daughter get over the fear of being hit or get her better timing or what can I say to help motivate her at the plate?
She is 9yrs old btw.
And we are in our first 6 months of 10U.

Thank you to everyone.

Without other details,
Me going this direction~
How does she handle defensively fly ball's and grounders?

Suggestion is develop the brain and get comfortable with the ball comming at us.
Through DEFENSIVE WORK !

Wearing a Fielders mask.
GO DO SOME DEFENSIVE WORK.
(lay off the fear topic)

Give her brain the chance to grow having the ball comming at her.
(Take her mind off of this topic at hitting.)
Give it a couple months.
How often she takes grounders can help this learning curve.
Its not really a long time...when she has just started out and had bad experiences getting hit by the pitches right out of the gate.

She learned a hard lesson.
Now, Time to learn what her eyes and judgement can do.
You can talk about how she can see and understand the path of the ball and getting behind it. Then point out how she can handle it.


As to hitting and pitchers arm motion = a visual timing thing.
Live batting practice with windmill front toss is simple to do and helpful.
Try a bag of wiffle balls first.
Blend into pitching softballs.
*Learn to look at thigh/knee area for release point!

Executive Brain Developing

 

[Strike2]

DD is a huge ball magnet...as in getting hit as much as the rest of the team combined. Fortunately, she seems very resistant to pain and injury. She's been smacked very hard on occasion, but just trots down to 1B as if nothing happened.

My main suggestion is that you stop talking about it. If a young player spend lots of time thinking and talking about getting hit, that's what they're going to think about in the box.

My guess is that, eventually, your DD will get past it. Do the windmill motion in the cage until she stops flinching. You pitch front toss to her from a screen 15-20 ft away (throw it firmly). Perhaps you could get hold of one of your team's pitchers to join you for some batting practice. The more looks she gets, the faster she's likely to get it out of her head, but it may take time and patience. Getting hit a few more times and realizing that any pain goes away in the time it takes to hobble down to first should help.

 

[bmakj]

and could not hurt to get an elbow guard, to me, other than bone that sticks out from ankle, this is the most painful thing to be HBP. and rap her helmet and mask a few times witht he ball while she is wearing it (not thrown, held in your hand). get her to trust her equipment as well.

 

[Shawn]

Had a student get hit in the gut while pitching and then took one off the thigh while hitting. She wears an elbow guard after getting a bone bruise getting hit in the elbow. She still isn’t afraid of the ball.

 

[SoftballDadnWV]

My 9 year old DD started having a fear of this earlier this Spring in a tournament where the pitching was pretty good. She normally got hit every tournament, it didn't use to be an issue, and then she started getting further away in the box and it was really hurting her ability to make contact, hesitant to get close. I did not make a big deal about it other than saying it was just part of the game. Like with others things related to this game, she figured it out on her own and realized that most fast pitchers she was facing were good and accurate pitchers (not always true, but I am not correcting her) and she is back to making good contact most of the time. I have learned, with this one, to just shut up and let her figure it out. My other two, that does not always work.

 

[radness]

Can remember seeing well seasoned older players shaking a little stepping in the box against Michelle Granger.
Consistantly broke 70mph from 40'...71,72mph.
Released at about 35' feet away.

*Remember softball pitching is underhand,
* Most of the visual connection players make are with their teammates throwing overhand !!!

Hitters are facing much less underhand throwing/pitching. That learning curve
to see and react to underhand pitching can take a longer time.

Really strongly believe pratice with live pitching is possibly single most important tool for hitting.
Also meaning
Simulated mechanics of throwing underhand!

 

[HunterMO]

Part of it will simply be age/maturity and learning the different pains. Long term versus short term pain. Getting hit by the ball (while it does hurt) is a short term pain mostly. As in most of the pain goes away by the time they get to 1B. Then almost all the way gone by the end of the game or over the course of one to two days. Once players learn that they’ll ultimately be okay in short time this usually lessons the fear.

It took DD through 10u and first year of 12u to truly be less afraid and handle game injuries better. She got hit a lot in 10u so she got used to that pretty quick.

One thing that helped DD initially (and some of our other girls) was to make a big deal about how cool it was. We’d have them compare bruise sizes or make jokes how we could see the marks left by the stitches (rare). Obviously, as coaches we were conscious about real injury. But for the most part it was hit legs, ankles, or an arm here and there. No one we faced in 10u threw hard enough to cause any significant injury.