Connecting with the Ball

Good hitting begins with a proper stance. Creating balance is crucial throughout your swing. Begin with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. If you have extremely long legs, then widen your feet a little. A good rule of thumb is to position your feet as if you were fielding a ground ball. To have good balance, you must bend forward slightly at the waist and allow your knees to also bend slightly.

In the stance, the front elbow is bent at 90 degrees, in the shape of an L, and the rear elbow resembles a V pointing toward the ground. Many coaches encourage players to keep their back elbow up in the stance. This can lead to several problems in the swing, including tightness through the shoulder area. By staying relaxed, your hands will move more quickly, resulting in greater bat speed. In addition, if you squeeze the bat too tightly, the swing slows down and bat control is diminished. Your bat should be held comfortably in the fingers, with the knuckles you would use to knock on a door lined up to help with the wrist snap.

Being able to time your swing with the arrival of the ball is the next obstacle to overcome as a hitter. Usually, a good point of reference is to start with a short stride as the pitcher releases the ball. If you overstride, too much weight will shift onto the front foot, causing your eyes to move forward and down, making it more difficult to see the ball. A good analogy for the stride is to imagine you are stepping onto a frozen pond, checking to see how strong it is. If you put too much weight on that first step, you may break through the ice.

Now that the swing has started, you have about two-tenths of a second to decide whether the pitch is a ball or a strike. If it is a strike, then you have about another two-tenths of a second to make that perfect swing and connect with the ball. Power in the swing begins by pivoting the back foot, allowing the knee and hip to turn easily. As you rotate the hips, keep your hands back in the launching position as long as possible. This creates some torque in the body, resulting in greater bat speed. At the final possible moment, release your hands toward the ball, snapping your wrists to make contact. Follow through with the bat above your shoulder, maintaining balance throughout the swing.

Your physical size and strength determine how much power the swing generates, and ultimately how far the ball travels. However, practicing the proper fundamentals can make anyone a better hitter. Learning to hit the ball to the opposite field, executing a hit and run when called on, or scoring a runner from third to win a game are learned skills that can be just as rewarding.

Seeing the Pitch The greatest tool a hitter can have is good vision--the ability to recognize a pitch as it travels toward the plate. It begins in your stance by keeping both eyes level and focused on the pitcher. In softball, the ball will always be released from the hip, so don’t let the pitcher’s motion distract you from where the ball will be coming. Your hands should begin at the top of the strike zone, just in front of the rear shoulder. The strike zone is a rectangular area, the width of the plate, from your knees to your chest. It is the area in which you can hit the ball well if your timing is correct. If you don’t swing and the ball travels through this zone, the umpire will call a strike. If the pitch is outside of this strike zone, a ball will be called.

Hitting for Power Hitting a long home run to win a game is any player’s dream. Developing enough power in your swing to do so takes a combination of bat speed and strength and a commitment to perfecting it. A powerful swing begins by developing maximum rotation from the lower body. The energy generated from the legs is then transferred through the body to the arms and eventually through the bat at the point of contact.

As the pitcher releases the ball, your vision takes over and tells you to swing because this one looks like a strike. By waiting as long as possible, you see the ball for a greater period of time and can recognize the type of pitch and its location. As the ball approaches, your lower body begins to generate power by rotating, while your upper body stays still, with your hands remaining in a launching position. This movement causes a buildup of torque through your midsection, which is essential when hitting for power. As the energy is released through your arms, extend them to the point of contact. Also, make sure to snap your wrists just before contacting the ball, adding that last bit of bat speed.

Selecting the proper equipment also plays an important role in hitting home runs. As technology continues to improve, the responsiveness of the bat is allowing players that in the past wouldn’t be able to hit the ball over the fence to do so regularly. Several years ago, manufacturers developed sophisticated metals that allow the bat to act like a trampoline and propel the ball with tremendous velocity.

Hitting to the Opposite Field Pitchers often rely on throwing the ball to the outside part of the plate to get a batter out. Learning to hit this pitch to the opposite field is a sign of a great hitter, one that pitchers fear. When a pitcher throws a pitch to the outside portion of the plate, try to hit the ball in that direction, or to what is called the opposite field. Most players tend to pull the outside pitch, meaning they hit it to the same side of the field they are hitting from, resulting in a weak ground ball to an infielder. But by learning to recognize the ball’s location and using the proper bat angle, you can achieve great success hitting to the opposite field.

Once again, seeing the ball and determining that it will be outside are vitally important. As you recognize the pitch, keep your hands back and allow the ball to get deeper into the hitting area, somewhere near home plate. On an inside pitch, the point of contact with the ball will be out in front of the plate, and the bat angle will cause you to pull the ball. By waiting on the outside pitch, you can then allow your hands to stay slightly in front of the ball, creating a bat angle that will direct it toward the opposite field.

Hit and Run Another offensive weapon coaches call on is the hit and run. With the player on first base running on the pitch, it is your job as the hitter to make contact with the ball. Ideally, you should hit a ground ball through the opening created by the infielder moving to cover the base of the advancing runner. This means swinging down through the ball with a smooth stroke, making sure to hit a ground ball, rather than swinging as hard as you can. If the ball can get by the infielders, then the runner should have an excellent chance of advancing to third base. The hit and run is typically used only in special situations. The batter needs to be a good contact hitter that can be counted on, even on a bad pitch. In case the hitter doesn’t make contact, the runner at first should possess good speed to give her a chance at stealing the base. In addition, the pitcher should face a count that forces her to throw a strike. When all of these factors exist, the hit and run can be a great tool.

Fake Bunt and Hit Occasionally, you will face a team that brings their defensive players in very close to the hitter when a bunt situation is in order. By having these players so close, it gives you as the hitter an opportunity to more easily hit the ball by them. One technique is to square the bat around as if to bunt, but then pull it back as the pitcher releases the ball. With a smooth downward motion, hit a ground ball past the incoming defensive players, resulting in an easy base hit.