My daughter and I were watching Team USA play Britain yesterday. One of the announcers was driving me nuts talking about extension at contact. Every time one of team USA players hit a homerun, this particular announcer would comment on how the batter was able to get their arms extended at contact. I have a dvr and played back every swing she said this about. Each time I froze the batter at contact. None of the batters were close to being extended at contact. All the batters had their back arm in the shape of an "L" at contact. Their arms didn't extend until well after contact; during their follow through. I wonder how many young girls watched this and will now be practicing extending their arms at contact?
In the 3rd inning team USA has runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Team USA's coach is miked. He calls time to talk to the batter. He tells her to hit it on the ground in order to force the defense to make a play. Apparently there is no place in fastpitch for a sacrifice fly ball. The batter is a slapper and swings down at the pitch to try and hit it on the ground. The bat intersects the back side of the ball resulting in an easy pop up to the pitcher. It makes me wonder if coaches at the highest level understand that swinging down increases the odds of a pop up. I understand that slappers specialize in chopping the ball into the ground, but I just thought it was interesting for a slapper to swing down on a low pitch and still manage to pop it up.
Team USA ends up scoring 10 runs. They hit three homeruns in the 4th inning. One was a grand slam. After the game they interviewed the player who hit the grand slam. She said she was thinking about trying to hit it on the ground and got a pitch out over the plate. She is a power hitter and when I played back her swing it was the typical power baseball swing that more and more fastpitch players are adopting today. So the hitters are using mechanics that allow them to drive the ball and the coaches are telling them to swing down and hit ground balls.
Nine of the ten runs scored by team USA came on three homeruns and a line drive double in the left-center gap that one hopped the fence. The other came off of an error on a ground ball to the 2nd basemen that should have been an easy out. If nine out of ten runs come off of balls hit in the air, why are the coaches telling players to hit in on the ground? After the 3rd homerun, I bet the pitcher was wishing the batters would keep it on the ground.
In the 3rd inning team USA has runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Team USA's coach is miked. He calls time to talk to the batter. He tells her to hit it on the ground in order to force the defense to make a play. Apparently there is no place in fastpitch for a sacrifice fly ball. The batter is a slapper and swings down at the pitch to try and hit it on the ground. The bat intersects the back side of the ball resulting in an easy pop up to the pitcher. It makes me wonder if coaches at the highest level understand that swinging down increases the odds of a pop up. I understand that slappers specialize in chopping the ball into the ground, but I just thought it was interesting for a slapper to swing down on a low pitch and still manage to pop it up.
Team USA ends up scoring 10 runs. They hit three homeruns in the 4th inning. One was a grand slam. After the game they interviewed the player who hit the grand slam. She said she was thinking about trying to hit it on the ground and got a pitch out over the plate. She is a power hitter and when I played back her swing it was the typical power baseball swing that more and more fastpitch players are adopting today. So the hitters are using mechanics that allow them to drive the ball and the coaches are telling them to swing down and hit ground balls.
Nine of the ten runs scored by team USA came on three homeruns and a line drive double in the left-center gap that one hopped the fence. The other came off of an error on a ground ball to the 2nd basemen that should have been an easy out. If nine out of ten runs come off of balls hit in the air, why are the coaches telling players to hit in on the ground? After the 3rd homerun, I bet the pitcher was wishing the batters would keep it on the ground.
