Help please we are desperate!

[burlap1980]

Think I'm in the right spot here.
So DD (11yo) and I work on hitting a couple nights a week. Tee work soft toss and live and lessons(500 swings a week give or take).
Here is my issue tee work is great, soft toss is great lessons go great. Live pitching at practice things go straight to the gutter we can't hit the ball at all. We can bunt the ball like a pro outside inside doesn't matter were going to lay it down. But when we swing its like a total disconnect.
(Head comes up, we step out, shoulder flies out, no hips swings with all arms)


So my thought is lets do more live pitching practice.
So back in the day i used to pitch in high school and not to badly i could throw consistent stikes.
But now with that dang optic yellow ball and windmill motion good luck. Lol. I would say 3 of every 10 is a strike. If i started throwing it over hand "baseball style " will that hurt her with her swing? Two totally different release points.

If thats not they way to go what suggestions do you guys have.
Its hard to watch her face drop knowing she works hard. When she does make contact they are hard line drives.

 

[pctrips]

When my DD first started working on her swing we did a ton of tee work too and it didn't translate well to live pitching. It was mostly a timing issue. So we kept working but mixed in some batting cage work so she was seeing pitches coming at her at a good rate. We used that to work on some timing cues and that made a huge difference.

 

[straightleg]

Take a tee to the field, set it on home plate and drive some balls.
Pitch baseball style, its about timing a ball, so some of that I don't think will hurt her
Start pitching behind a screen and see if you start up close will help her. Then vary the pitching distances.


Straightleg

 

[Bchbum54]

Get a pitching screen, set yourself about 30 feet from her and do front toss pitching. It's easier for you to hit the strike zone consistently. The shorter distance will compensate for the slower pitching so her reaction time will be similar to live pitching timing. The net will protect you from line drives back up the middle

 

[NEF]

Agree with the front toss, even closer than 30ft if you have trouble throwing to spots. My oldest DD had difficulty at same age, Could bunt , had "timing" issues, came home one day from school, "The black board was fuzy today" now wears glasses / goggles pretty much improved at the plate immediately.

 

[quincy]

I think the majority of her live hitting work can be with a pitcher throwing baseball style, I do not think you even need to use a softball. When possible bribe someone to come out and pitch SB style for you while you take a few pitching lessons.

Make sure you take a before and after video so we can gage your progress.

(As others have mentioned you do not need to pitch from 40’, move in if you want to just protect yourself. At minimum wear a batting helmet and a cup if you need to. I do not know if she has a composite bat but when they hit those on the sweet spot the ball goes by you before you can react unless you are really paying attention, which you probably are not all the time.)

 

[PEPPERS]

I think the majority of her live hitting work can be with a pitcher throwing baseball style, I do not think you even need to use a softball. When possible bribe someone to come out and pitch SB style for you while you take a few pitching lessons.

Make sure you take a before and after video so we can gage your progress.

(As others have mentioned you do not need to pitch from 40’, move in if you want to just protect yourself. At minimum wear a batting helmet and a cup if you need to. I do not know if she has a composite bat but when they hit those on the sweet spot the ball goes by you before you can react unless you are really paying attention, which you probably are not all the time.)

Always stand behind a screen when front tossing an 8 YO with a $10 bat sent me to the hospital years ago. I was front tossing to my team and I had a glove full of balls and she nailed me before I could get the balls out of my glove to try and catch it so error on the side of caution.

 

[Sliced Bread]

A couple of hand-eye drills we do:

1) Front toss with 2 different colored wiffle balls throw together, coach calls a color to hit.

2) Front toss with screen. Numbered balls, player calls the number on the ball at contact.

The batters tend to pick the ball up sooner as they need to process information before contact.
For younger players, drill 2 can be done first without a swing.

 

[inde53546]

Is she early, hiiting the ball waaay out front? Or is she late? I think working opposite field from short distance front toss concentrating on allowing the ball to travel deeper is helpful if she's out front

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Yes. Throw overhand. I have done it for 30 years. You can even use tennis balls if it is safer for you.