Keys to Great Fastpitch Softball Hitting

Keys to Great Fastpitch Softball Hitting

by Andy Collins

Master these 7 steps and you are on your way to achieving your goal of being a hitter that can go as far as your dreams, desires, and hard work can take you.

Jump Into The Box The stance is similar to when you land from a jump: knees bent feet slightly wider than your shoulders on balance bend slightly forward from the waist

Door Knocking Knuckles The best grip to use will line up the knuckles we would use to knock on a door. This allows for a freer and quicker swing.

Big Toe This reminds us of the soft step that starts the swing with weight landing on the big toe. It’s no more than 6” and keeps the weight back while this step is taken. It also reminds us to keep the front foot closed.

Squish The Bug When we hit, we need to use not just our arms, but get the big muscles in our hips and torso working as well. This is a hard twisting on the ball of our back foot.

Karate Chop / Karate Punch We need to take the barrel of our bat right to the ball, like in karate. The lower hand would be a snap from the elbow straight out, while the top hand would go straight toward the ball so that it meets the ball in the ...

The Red Zone Hit the ball out in front, where our hands and arms are fully extended for maximum impact with the ball contacting the sweet spot of the bat. Also known as the hitting zone or success zone.

Follow Through This reminds us that once we’ve hit the ball to bring the bat through the zone quickly. You’re still in your straight balanced position, but your bat goes right from contact to your shoulder or back.

PRINT THIS PAGE and post it where you can see it often and practice these 7 steps over and over until you've mastered them. Then you just might hear someone in the stands yelling "That's a great hitter."

Andy Collins has been coaching for 30 years locally and internationally with the Brazilian National team and at the World Scholar Athlete Games. He loves to help fastpitch softball players reach their goals. He offers hitting techniques, hitting tips, recommendations, and even free hitting lessons by e-mail at his website, http://www.theInternetHittingCoach.com