This is a great at bat

[FiveFrameSwing]

Here's a pitch where she opened up and touched down outside. Looks to have initiated a stepping open prior to the pitcher's release.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

That is how I was taught in college when I wanted to place the ball. She may have seen an opening in LF that she was trying to hit.

 

[lhowser]

Looks to have initiated a stepping open prior to the pitcher's release.

How about this. Runner on second...picking signs??

 

[PEPPERS]

I catch my daughter and her friend and have been for years I can tell where the ball is going by the body angle before release of the pitch. Great hitters like Morgan can possibly do the same don’t know for sure, just thinking out loud.

To do this consistently a lot of BP and LP I would think. The AL coaching staff told us at a camp they did not like pitching machines.

 

[PEPPERS]

How about this. Runner on second...picking signs??

Verry possible, the Al staff don't miss a trick.

 

[PEPPERS]

a Link to an article about what we are discussing.

STRIDE: Step Straight Toward the Pitcher or Step To The Pitch? - CheckSwing

 

[softballfan94]

That is how I was taught in college when I wanted to place the ball. She may have seen an opening in LF that she was trying to hit.

I agree with Amy. I was taught taught to hit for placement like that - way back in the day. We have a tough time getting our kids to "get it" today. Seems they all want to upper cut about 35-40 degrees which usually ends up in a pop up out to the outfield (should only come up about 10 deg). Pitchers are glad to see that swing though...

 

[lhowser]

She may have seen an opening in LF that she was trying to hit.

I don't think this is the case because she worked both sides of the field depending on pitch location and finally hit the ball she could drive deep to right center.

 

[PEPPERS]

This speech from Pat Murphy lets us in on how Morgan may have know where the pitches were going ot be.

Speech from Pat Murphy

7.The last inning of our lessons, No. 7, comes from a former student-athlete at Alabama. Believe it or not, we are not beneath learning from our players! Not only do we have the opportunity to make a difference in their lives, but often, they do the same for us. And a young lady named Jessica Smith did just that for everyone in our program. During her very first spring practice at Alabama, she tore her ACL. After months of rehab, during a running session later that next fall, she tore it again. During her career she had four surgeries and numerous other trips to various doctors. Through it all, she never wavered in her commitment to TEAM first. She found her calling: as our dugout spy. Jessica would study each opposing coach and by the third or fourth inning, she learned all the signs — both on offense and defense. On one occasion, Charlotte Morgan hit a towering homerun and at home plate after her celebration, she pointed right at JESSICA and said, “That was you, Jess!” Jessica had yelled out location prior to the pitch and Charlotte knew exactly what was coming. Jessica was beaming — the great Charlotte Morgan gave the credit away — to a person on the bench! When we played Kentucky one year, our friend and Kentucky head coach Rachel Lawson had no idea what she was doing for a young lady in Crimson but when Rachel walked past our dugout, she pointed right at Jessica and said, “I can’t wait until you graduate.” That meant the world to Jessica. Her role was validated by a DI head coach! At her senior banquet, the first words out of her mouth were this: “Coach Murphy tells us often that the quicker we learn it’s not all about us, the better off we will be.” At the end of her speech, she called up a younger teammate. She wanted to pass on something she had been working on for the past four years. Jessica had made an ‘Alabama Scouting Report’ notebook. It was a three-ring binder about four inches thick. Every team we had played over the past four years was in it. No one in that room could believe what she had done.

7 Softball Lessons from Alabama’s Patrick Murphy « Softball Excellence