More hitting tips

[slydevl]

Hitting to the Opposite Field
by Ben Schorr

I was lucky to play with a guy who took his softball pretty seriously and knew a lot of tricks. Here's what I learned from him about placement hitting.
Placement hitting is all about stance, alignment, step and stroke.

Stance: I don't like to give away where I want to go with the ball any more than I have to, so I try to keep a comfortable, consistent stance. That usually means feet about shoulder width, hips and shoulders aligned and pointed at second base, hands back and high. For me personally high hands is important in slow / high arc softball; if you drop your hands you'll tend to uppercut the ball which results in more pop ups. I find that when I keep my hands high in my stance, it levels me swing and lets me hit more line drives.

Alignment: To go opposite field I stand further from the plate in the batters box and closer to the pitcher. You're really looking for an outside pitch to take to the opposite field and by standing away in the batters box it's harder for the pitcher to jam you and still throw strikes. (Note: a good pitcher who sees you off the plate may deliberately try to pitch you outside so don't stand so far that you can't get to the outside of the plate or you may get struck out.) Standing closer to the pitcher means that a strike is going to descend deeper back in your swing - a deeper pitch is easier to take to the opposite field. If the pitcher knows you want to go that way he may deliberately try to pitch you short.

Step: To go opposite field, take your step that way. I never move my back foot unless I have to, I prefer to let my front foot close my stance on the step, basically I step towards the pitcher and towards the plate - placing my heel slightly past the line where my toes were. That closes your stance, turns your hips towards the right and helps you take the ball that way.

Swing: Be patient. You need to wait on the ball to go opposite field. Keep the hands high because it's easy to uppercut when you're trying to go that way. You want to get your hands out in front of the barrel of the bat on your swing. If you can do all of that you can go opposite field.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[APPLEJACK]

Hey Sly, that's a bunch of crap from that guy. The secret is in the swing. You can stand anyway you want to and inside-out a swing. It's pretty intricate but I can show you better than I can tell you.
The ideal swing is not uppercutting or leveling out. Ideally, you want to have a somewhat downward swing and imagine cutting the ball in half with the bat with your head down and actually seeing the point of contact. Now, when you have mastered that and you are hitting line drives, you can start to tinker with your swing by standing off the plate as he stated, and taking the outside pitch and stepping toward the left side of the pitcher and driving the ball to the right side.
Inside-out swing is a little more complicated and is usually used in baseball in hit and run situations. What I mean by inside-out is the pitch will be inside but you want to hit the ball to the opposite field. In hit and run situations, with a right handed batter up, the runner takes off and the 2nd baseman goes to cover the bag, the pitcher has thrown an inside pitch wanting the hitter to hit the ball to the right side of him because the SS will be in his normal position, the batter keeps his hands inside and does not extend them to hit the ball to the left side, preferably a ground ball to the position the 2nd baseman was in before taking off to cover the bag. With the 2nd baseman's momentum going towards 2nd base he cannot pivot fast enough to get back to make the play. You can use this same concept in hitting the ball to the opposite field in softball. Like I said before, I can show you better than I can tell ya.

 

[bunkyboy]

AppleJack, you gonna play if we go into the summer league?

 

[BearBryant]

Thanks for the advice Applejack but we just pray Sly makes contact with the ball. You might be getting more technical than he will understand.

 

[APPLEJACK]

He can't be that bad BB.

Bunkyboy sent me an e-mail about playing this summer, I will when I can. I'd like to see you guys play but I will be out of town for the next 3 weekends.

Any of you guys play at Nevins on Thursday nights?

 

[slydevl]

I played in the D league there last fall

 

[APPLEJACK]

If you get a chance come out there tonight at 7:00. We are playing the Diamond Cutters and they are undefeated in league play. Should be a good one.

 

[BearBryant]

Hey Applejack...I'm looking for another league to play in during the week. You need any players? or maybe this fall?

 

[APPLEJACK]

Come check us out tonight and I'll introduce you to our coach. I know he is going to have a fall league team. I'll get you on that team.

 

[BearBryant]

I doubt I can make it tonight. do you play next thurs? where are the fields?