Hitting during practice

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Feb 13, 2018
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You have one hour with 12 high school age girls everyday 5 days per week. Looking for ways to mix it up to keep them engaged and working hard
 
Apr 2, 2015
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Woodstock, man
Put up an L screen and hit OVER it. This fixes many launch angle and swing issues. Use a points/run system. 0 for grounder, 1 for hitting above center line, and 3 for over (that's only 10 deg launch angle, which should be a minimum), and 0 for obvious popup.
 
Oct 14, 2016
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Live on Five. Set your players into 3 teams of four. One team hits, the other two are in the field on defense. Each team has exactly five minutes to score as many runs as possible.

Puts faster than game like pressure on the teams,
- Emphasizes hustle and making plays.
- Emphasizes aggressive baserunning.

You can add a 30 second switch time where the offense gets an out if they are not ready and the defense gives up a run if they are not ready.

Oh, this is coach pitch to keep time moving. I also have a bucket of balls to keep it flowing as well.

I love this game/drill/challenge because it really shows you where the fundamental flaws are in a player, which you can work on, to prevent this happening, in those tight games, when your kiddos are feeling pressure.
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
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PA
What type of equipment do you have? Tees? Cage? Nets?

Break them up into groups and run stations. If you have the space and equipment that’s the best way to keep them busy and focused.

If you want to get some live defensive reps with it, put 9 in positions, one on deck, two on the bases and make every swing live for the defense, and have base runners get leads and reads off balls hit. Every few pitches make your runners live and defense has to react to whatever the situation is when the ball is in play. Give hitters 6-8 swings each.
 
Mar 6, 2016
383
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Put up an L screen and hit OVER it. This fixes many launch angle and swing issues. Use a points/run system. 0 for grounder, 1 for hitting above center line, and 3 for over (that's only 10 deg launch angle, which should be a minimum), and 0 for obvious popup.

Can you visually describe this a bit more? How close to the hitter is the L screen? Are they hitting over the entire screen or just the L cut out part? I think I "see" what you are saying but want to make sure. Thx
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
43
PA
Can you visually describe this a bit more? How close to the hitter is the L screen? Are they hitting over the entire screen or just the L cut out part? I think I "see" what you are saying but want to make sure. Thx

We do something similar to this. We almost have enough 7x7 screens to go from 1st to 3rd. We line them up in the base path and hit front toss from HP. We call it the Great Wall of Ground Balls. Goal is to hit line drives over the top of the screens. No ground balls, no pop outs.
 

NBECoach

Learning everyday
Aug 9, 2018
408
63
In addition to the equipment question, how advanced are the HS age hitters? That gives me an idea of where to start. For example, why play games in practice when they need help at xxxx?

I always looked at drills as being used to change something so you cannot take "normal swings". When we do hitting drills we exaggerate the change so they feel it. If you do normal speed dry or even tee swings it won't take.
 
Jun 22, 2019
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I am not a big fan of batting games for HS girls. I like stations...it’s like working out, you’re training your muscles and developing muscle memory. I think a ton of tee work to get their swing right and keep improving is key to a good hitting team. Our HS team does tee work every practice. We also do lots of front toss on the field so the girls can see the results of the tee/cage time.

about once a week they do a line drive game. front toss, if the ball hit is a line drive they keep hitting, if not they go back to shagging. Who ever gets the most in a row wins and doesn’t have to put up equipment that day. It’s just something to have fun with after hard practices. The real improvement comes from the tee and front toss.
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
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PA
We have a 2 bay batting cage, 3 tees, weighted balls and whiffle balls. So, we do front toss in the cages, tee work, and soft toss with whiffle balls and weighted balls.

I'd love a 2 bay cage! Thats on my wish list.

With 12 kids, I may set up something like this...

2 in each cage (4 total) - 1 hitting, 1 "on deck". Set up different approaches in each cage. For example - 1 cage be a 2 strike cage(or whatever count you want to use), the other 3 plate hitting drill. Set the number of swings to whatever you want.

3 tee stations (6 players) - When doing tee stations I always have a "choice" station so players can work on what ever they need to. Then 2 other drills.

Then either weighted ball angle toss or a bunt station (do you have a machine?). A personal preference for me, but I don't do much with whiffles. I just don't like the feel of whiffles off the bat. Plus if kids are throwing them, they tend to be all over the place and we get in bad habits swinging at bad pitches.
 
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