She actually hit the WHOLE bucket last night!

[stephanie]

WOO HOO!!!
So my DD (10) started stepping out of the box lately, and backing away from perfectly good pitches. HUH?
And then it hit me...she's started leaning over the plate. I explained that when she does that, she has just put her face in the strike zone. YIKES. No wonder she backed away; she kept thinking she was about to get hit. Which she would've been...
Repositioned her stand to upright again (don't ask me where she picked up the bent over stance. It wasn't me.) And then?
Wammo! Started crushing the balls! No backing away, no missing strikes. And she hit every ball in the bucket!
THANK YOU GOD!!!

The look on her face was PRICELESS!!

 

[TimothyJ]

That's awesome!

 

[Chris O'Leary]

Repositioned her stand to upright again (don't ask me where she picked up the bent over stance.

Now that she's standing straight up, how is she going to adjust to hit balls over the lower part of the plate (and really hit any game pitch versus a BP pitch)?

The typical solution is to disconnect and drop the hands.

 

[stephanie]

well, she does bend at the knees...

I'm gonna have to tape her game this weekend to see how she handles them...A big thing we've worked on this season (for the whole team it seems) is tracking the ball...

 

[SBFAMILY]

I agree with Chris. Read Howards posts on stance. It is bend at the waist and soften the knees. Most young girls tend to bend at the knees and if you put a bat under her rear you would think she was sitting on the bat. This forces the head over the plate, like you are talking about. The upright stance will not work as she faces pitching like Chris talks about.i

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I agree with Chris. Read Howards posts on stance. It is bend at the waist and soften the knees. Most young girls tend to bend at the knees and if you put a bat under her rear you would think she was sitting on the bat. This forces the head over the plate, like you are talking about. The upright stance will not work as she faces pitching like Chris talks about.i

When I see a leg-locker, I tell my pitchers to bust them at the knees all day long.

They generally can't down to that pitch or hit it with any authority if they do.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

IMO, this kid is 10 years old. Girls who pitch to her will not be able to "bust her at the knees all day long". At 10, their goal is to throw strikes with the occasional change up to keep batters off balance.

stephanie, that is great news that your DD is improving! Keep working on her mechanics and her hitting will get better. I recommend that you take her to a hitting coach, or at the very lease a softball skills coach who knows hitting.

Good luck to your DD this weekend and seeing her in action would be lots of help!

 

[stephanie]

Thanks C-n-D!!!
We're doing a hitting camp this summer, at which point I will gladly stand back and observe. Had to see her committment to the sport before I invested ALL my money!

I laughed about the "busting her at the knees" comment. Most pitchers she faces might HIT her in the knees, but there is little control. They're giddy when they get it in the strike zone. My DD is one of the few who actually come in right at the knees, and some ump's will call them balls, which really ticks her off!

I am sure as her confidence grows, the tendency to back off of good pitches will go away. Until then, this one might just do the trick of keeping her in the box. (By the way, she doesn't have a straight up-n-down profile...her posture is too bad! HA!)

 

[Chris O'Leary]

Thanks C-n-D!!!
We're doing a hitting camp this summer, at which point I will gladly stand back and observe. Had to see her committment to the sport before I invested ALL my money!

I laughed about the "busting her at the knees" comment. Most pitchers she faces might HIT her in the knees, but there is little control. They're giddy when they get it in the strike zone. My DD is one of the few who actually come in right at the knees, and some ump's will call them balls, which really ticks her off!

I am sure as her confidence grows, the tendency to back off of good pitches will go away. Until then, this one might just do the trick of keeping her in the box. (By the way, she doesn't have a straight up-n-down profile...her posture is too bad! HA!)

Just understand that in fixing one problem you may have broken something else (that is VERY important).

Tilting over the plate is important, and is how good hitters adjust up and down in the strike zone, and there might be less consequential ways of fixing a problem with a fear of the ball.

 

[tom.guerry]

adjusting up-down with early batspeed (90 degrees earlier in this case) is by "rearward tilt" and "weathervaning" (up down adjustment of lead arm and shoulder slaved to arm) the way Epstein explains it.

Very different from "anterior" tilt over plate/bend at waist method of adjustment.