Things You'll Need:
- Softball Cleats
- Softball Bats - Bottle And Semibottle
- Softball Batting Gloves
- Softball Fielding Gloves
- Softball Batting Helmets
- Plastic Softballs
- Breakaway Bases
- Softball Donuts
- Softball Equipment Bags
- Softball Glove Conditioner Cream
- Softballs
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Step 1
Start with a comfortable stance. Balance your weight on the balls of your feet. Keep your knees slightly flexed, with a slight bend at the waist.
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Step 2
Hold the bat with your front elbow down and relaxed, and your back elbow at a 45-degree angle, pointed at the ground.
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Step 3
Grasp the bat at a 45- to 90-degree angle with the middle knuckles of one hand aligned with the middle knuckles of the other hand.
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Step 4
Keep your hands at the top of the strike zone, and near your back armpit. Make sure the bat is between the catcher and your back shoulder.
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Step 5
Keep your head straight, with your eyes focused on the pitcher at the release point of the ball (the side of the pitcher's leg, for example).
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Step 6
Shift the weight onto your back foot as the pitcher goes into the windup.
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Step 7
Take a stride forward with the front foot on the release of the pitch, being careful not to bring any weight forward on the stride. This is called a soft step.
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Step 8
Start to pivot the back foot so that your back heel is facing the catcher, and transfer your weight forward to the middle of your body.
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Step 9
Launch your hands last, with the knob of the bat going toward the pitcher's feet.
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Step 10
Be careful not to drop the barrel of the bat below your hands at the start of the swing.
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Step 11
Hit the ball and drive it, following through with your hands swinging to the opposite shoulder.
Comments
psychdoc61 said
on 7/19/2009 I have played baseball, slow pitch, and fast pitch and coached all three. Most of these steps are okay, but not great, especially for fast pitch. Step 2 elbow positions are very uncomfortable and mechanically wrong. Instead, try it with the front elbow at 45 degree angle down to the ground and the back elbow at 90 degrees and it makes much more sense. Step 9 with the knob to the ball is totally wrong. Hitting a ball is like chopping down a tree. You want the power to be focused at the point of contact. Picture trying to chop on a tree with the axe knob leading the way to the tree. OUCH! Now picture trying it with the ax blade leading the way to the tree. Pivot the hands to make impact. It works much better. The problem a lot of coaches have in teaching hitting is the use static pictures of HUGE baseball players swinging at the ball and think this is correct. Proper mechanics will mak...
softballgirl10 said
on 7/10/2009 if you try to swing "level" youare wrong you need to do the "high-low-high" this teq. is to make it litterally "level" try it
softballgirl10 said
on 7/10/2009 if you are swinging to late get in the back of the box. if you are tyoo early get in front.
Vette said
on 10/2/2008 Great post! When I first learned how to hit a slow-pitch softball, I was swinging too soon. A friend of mine told me to pull my cap down some on my head, then, keeping my head level, wait until the ball was in sight over the plate, then swing. This helped tremendously with my timing.
Treads04 said
on 3/11/2008 At some point when you swing your bat, your elbow will drop. I see a lot of batters drop their elbow before they swing the bat. Even though their elbow is up when they are in the stance. As soon as they start to swing they drop the elbow and then swing.