Softball Hitting Tips: Offseason and Indoor Drills
When it is too cold or wet to practice outside, use these softball hitting tips and drills to get your team prepared.
Clearly, the number one drill used is the pitching machine. But there are only so many of those available at a time. What do you do with the rest of the team? Below are some softball hitting drills to get the rest of the team involved.
The first softball hitting tip is give your team some homework. The primary tool we gave them homework on was using the broom stick. You will need to observe them first at practice to make sure they are swinging correctly, but after this is achieved, the team should be assigned homework of 50 swings a night. To be honest, this may take 10 minutes, but the dividends will be huge. You will be able to tell who is and who has not been taking their stick swings.
Now to the indoor softball hitting tips and drills.
Name of Drill: Hitting Tee
Who: Entire Team
Duration: Rotation through the team
Explanation: This is the baseline drill, usually in two person groups. You will need a tee, either softballs or wiffle balls, the hitting net, and the player's bat. As one works on her swing, hitting the ball into the net, her teammate places the ball on the tee. The tee should be placed on various locations on home plate to work taking the ball to right field for an outside pitch; taking the ball to left field for an inside pitch; and so forth. In addition, the tee height should be raised and lowered to work on pitches not only inside and outside, but also up and down in the strike zone. The key is that a good swing must be repeatedly made with line drives into the net resulting.
Worked on: Perfecting her swing on pitches in various parts of the strike zone.
Name of Drill:Double Tee
Who:Entire Team
Duration: Rotation through the team
Explanation: In this softball hitting tip, the team can be broken down into pairs. You will need two tees, either softballs or wiffle balls, the hitting net, and the player's bat. The object of this drill is to eliminate the loop in your player's swing. As taught with the rotational swing, the hitter should bring her hands directly to the ball, without dropping them down. Line up two hitting tee front to back. The back tee should be a little lower than the front tee. Place a ball on the front tee. The player then hits the ball off of the front tee. If she hits the back tee, she is looping her swing. Make corrections in her mechanics, and repeat the process.
Worked on: Swing that produces hands to the ball without a loop in the swing.
Name of Drill:Three Ball Call Out
Who:Entire Team
Duration: Rotation through the team
Explanation: The team can be broken down into pairs. You will need different color wiffle balls, the hitting net, and the player's bat. This is a form of soft toss, which is explained on the Fastpitch Softball Hitting Drills page. You can start with two different colored wiffle balls first and work up to three. See the ball clearly and keeping your eye on the ball is one of the keys to successful hitting. In this drill, the soft tosser will throw multiple balls (two at first and then three), and call out the color of the ball for instance "red") to hit. The batter will then attempt to hit that color ball into the net. Go through several rotations then have the girls switch spots.
Worked on: Pitch identification and focus on the ball.
Competitive Game: Challenge the team to see how many balls they can hit of the proper color.
Name of Drill:Hip Swing
Who:Entire Team
Duration: Rotation through the team
Explanation: Split the team into pairs. You will need softballs or wiffle balls, a tee, the player's broom stick or bat, and the hitting net. Have the hitter position the bat or broom stick horizontally behind her back. Place the ball on the tee. The batter must turn her hips with the bat or broom stick following the hips to hit the ball off the tee. The key to a solid hit is utilizing the entire body, particularly the hips in the swing. This drill trains the player to bring her hips through with her swing.
Worked on: Proper mechanics in the use of the player's hips as part of her swing.
If you have a few softball hitting tips and drills that you find particularly effective when stuck inside or during the offseason and are willing to share, please enter them below. Your fellow coaches will appreciate your contributions
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