Hitting Distance Off of Tee

[theaddition]

"Did she naturally progress to releasing the bat after extension?"

When she started out 4 years ago I looked for some instructional dvds.
I don't recall why, but the first dvd I got Charley Lau Jr's dvd.
He has a drill call "open top hand" which promoted palm up -palm down at contact as well as top hand release. He was/is big into top hand release. If you hit in an open top hand fashion for long enough, top hand release become second nature. I'm not saying it's good or bad, it's just how my DD hits now.

 

[theaddition]

Here are some vids from last night in which we worked on what I was referring to.
We snuck into a dome up here at 10pm when it was empty. As we were doing this, I realized we don't hit a lot of hard balls during the winter, because we have no place to hit the hard balls. She worked extremely hard last night and said her legs were killing her after the hitting. That told me she and I need to find a place to do this more often in the winter. She hit a lot of line drive and was some what disappointed about that.
Until she saw the videos, which she liked, and I did too.




BD

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

FFS,would it be a bad thing to swing for the fence from a tee? We do that about once a month during off season and about twice a month or more during season.My DD is only 12 but early bloomer,5'6" 130lb. Hits about 10 percent over 200'. Very good confidence builder.What kind of problems might this cause?

Heck no ... it's not bad ... it's a lot of fun actually. Got to take those cuts. I do it myself. In fact, I play a progression game with the kids during good weather. Line the kids up and give them one swing each. First time through the goal is a ball in play ... anywhere. Assuming they graduate the next goal is ball hit out of the infield (without hitting the dirt). Assuming they graduate, the next goal is a line-drive out of the infield. Assuming they graduate the next goal is shot that makes it to the fence ... I need to hear the thud against the fence. Assuming they graduate the next goal is a line-drive to a gap (I place cones in the field to mark out the gaps). Assuming they graduate the next goal is a shot over the fence. Just keep cycling through the line giving each kid one swing and a pass/fail mark. Kids view it as a competition and have fun doing it. Losers get to collect the balls.

 

[RayR]

So you broke the law just so your DD could hit? That's awesome!!

BTW - check you PM's please.

Here are some vids from last night in which we worked on what I was referring to.
We snuck into a dome up here at 10pm when it was empty. As we were doing this, I realized we don't hit a lot of hard balls during the winter, because we have no place to hit the hard balls. She worked extremely hard last night and said her legs were killing her after the hitting. That told me she and I need to find a place to do this more often in the winter. She hit a lot of line drive and was some what disappointed about that.
Until she saw the videos, which she liked, and I did too.




BD

 

[PEPPERS]

Where is the softball police when you need them!!!!!

 

[qwikvr6gti]

I think you are looking at it all wrong. You want your DD to hit Line Drives. Set up a T about 20 ft out with a ball or a cone on top and make DD try to hit the other ball. Line Drives will get you on base over 80% of the time, that is a MLB Stat. Focus on bat speed. Once in a while DD will hit the ball so sweet it will go over the fence. It should never be her goal to hit it over the fence. It should just happen.

 

[SBFAMILY]

The two ball two T drill is used by most colleges in camps we attend. We use this drill in our Bustos clinics but it is set up this way. The T closest to the pitcher is 18" away and 2" higher than the T you are hitting off of. This is the correct angle to hit a line drive.

 

[softballphreak]

Hitting long tee lets the batter see and feel the difference in her various swings.

Power hitting from front toss is very productive. Every swing should not necessarily be a line drive swing. There are times when a sacrifice fly is in order. There are times when the batter needs to hit behind a runner. Intentional ground balls have their place.

Having a batter hit off of a tee, set up at various positions, gives them the freedom to experiment with a variety of swings, including over the fence swings.

The angles and all the other theories have their value, also. But the swing should not be so narrowly taught that they can't hit with power no matter where the pitcher throws the ball.

 

[Mrek]

At the highest levels, it looks to me like the Womens game is moving toward the big fly just like MLB (see U of Hawaii). There is a place for all aspects of the offense (small ball, contact, line drive hitters etc...) but all those offensive tools generally require the batter to defeat 8 fielders and have teammates also execute in order to score runs. In the home run game, there is only 1 fielder to beat and that is the Pitcher, no help from the rest of the lineup is needed. If the player exhibits the right tools (good mechanics and good bat speed), there is value in teaching batters how to hit home runs (descending angle, impart backspin) and when to attempt to execute it (early in the game, runners on base less than 2 down, when it can do the most damage (put a game out of reach), etc... (not tying run on third, 2 down bot 7th)).

BTW... That girl in the videos, she has some good bat speed. 1st inning, 2 runners on, less than two outs, I'm telling her to hit me a bomb.

 

[softballphreak]

At the highest levels, it looks to me like the Womens game is moving toward the big fly just like MLB (see U of Hawaii). There is a place for all aspects of the offense (small ball, contact, line drive hitters etc...) but all those offensive tools generally require the batter to defeat 8 fielders and have teammates also execute in order to score runs. In the home run game, there is only 1 fielder to beat and that is the Pitcher, no help from the rest of the lineup is needed. If the player exhibits the right tools (good mechanics and good bat speed), there is value in teaching batters how to hit home runs (descending angle, impart backspin) and when to attempt to execute it (early in the game, runners on base less than 2 down, when it can do the most damage (put a game out of reach), etc... (not tying run on third, 2 down bot 7th)).

BTW... That girl in the videos, she has some good bat speed. 1st inning, 2 runners on, less than two outs, I'm telling her to hit me a bomb.

Agree with most of this. That's the kind of attitude we need. Yes, we can!