Switch Hitting

[WARRIORMIKE]

My daughter is 8 and can switch hit. She is stronger on her right swing rather than left. However she is very comfortable at both. Question that I have is should I encourage the switch hitting at this age or should I have her only hit with her strongest side?


Also as a side note, she throws right buuuuuuut she writes with her left?? I think my kid is just confused LOL

 

[starsnuffer]

Have her just hit left. There's really no advantage to hitting right in softball. Some of the best "lefty" hitters are really right handed and were just taught to hit left at a young age.

-W

 

[Comp]

If she has any speed at all put her on the left side and leave her there. Strength on the left swing will come with time and comfort. Have her work on bunting, slapping and being able to hit away. A good lefty that can do all of the above is extremely hard to defend against.

 

[starsnuffer]

It's not just for speedy batters, but for power hitters too. The A ball organization my daughter played for has a few ladies from it who now play on the national team. One of them is a righty who learned to hit left early on and has always hit for power. Just this last spring she was back in working out learning/refining how to slap, but that's certainly not her forte. (One of the biggest grins I ever had was watching my daughter in one cage working on slapping and an Olympian right next to her doing the same drills, but that's another story).

-W