Slap Hitting Tips

[FiveFrameSwing]

Washington's Kimi Pohlman:

 

[FPMark]

India Chiles' video is a very good example of a cross step without a drop step.

SBF, do you teach a shuffle?... or a cross step? In that first link you posted, they are cross stepping with no drop step, but they are stepping completely out of the box. If this is how you teach, when should the contact take place? They didn't use a bat though, so maybe this was a bad example?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Jessica Mendoza:

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

India Chiles' video is a very good example of a cross step without a drop step.

I've seen India's demonstrations. Do you have any video of India's live game at-bats?

 

[FPMark]

No... but even if I did, I'd have no idea how to post it on here. I guess I'm just going by what she shows and says in her instructional video.

 

[SBFAMILY]

USA Softball Merchandise Sorry this is the site. Go to Slapping and click on the Video. I cannot post video's restricted . No we do not teach a drop step, none of the Team USA players we worked with teach this now. If you click on the above, nor did the coaches for Team USA. I see a video of Mendozza doing this above, but that is not what the coaches taught and this was from 2008. . If you watch Amy's video it goes into detail why this is not taught now. I have timed kids doing both and the drop step method is slower to first.

http://softball.isport.com/softball...he-two-step-approach-for-slapping-in-softball

http://www.champonline.com/the-art-of-slap-hitting-sd-02617.html

 

[T Red]

More like this?

 

[softballphreak]

More like this?

Caitlin did good but she didn't do what Amy was saying. She didn't have her hands up as far on the bat (that's good), and her feet were not where Amy said.

 

[Ken Krause]

If you look around 3:20, Caitlyn does take a quick drop step back. You can see it on that swing and the next one.

SBF, when you say drop step, are you talking about a large step back? Or never, ever any type of backward step of any kind? Maybe it's a matter of terminology. Because I still do see a very slight step back on a lot of slappers. But it's a quick movement, not a slow, deliberate one -- almost choppy, and just before the back foot comes forward. That's what I do when I demonstrate the slap, but it happens so quickly it wouldn't be a giveaway.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Thanks guys for the posts. Ken it is almost a pivot of the front foot more than a drop step to get it toward the gap between first and second base, because you have to open it up as your first move. I guess you could also call it a small drop step, but nothing like the post that Mendozza has. This is from a very good Olympic hitting coach. Why would you want to go backwards to hit a ball forwards? What are you accomplishing with this move, but to give away a slap? This only thing I have read that this moves helps is the drag bunt, but I have seen many with the cross over drag bunt pretty good, like my dd does. The thing that really matters is what gives the slapper the quickest time to first. Amy covers that in her video. We go to roughly 6 slapping camps a year, and after they watch her slap, they ask her who taught you your slapping method and can you show it to me. Many still teach what they learned years ago, you can tell that when you read the hitting posts.