Softball Camps

Softball Camps and Softball Clinics are becoming a very popular way of getting quality fastpitch softball instruction. When you're looking for a camp in your area here are a couple of tips as to what you should be looking for from the Softball instructors.

• Are they certified High School, College or Local Summer / Fall Travel Ball coaches with a successful Fastpitch Softball background?
• Are they proficient in the area of their Softball instructing? For example if it's a Fastpitch pitching clinic can they throw the pitches that they will be teaching?
• Will the softball clinic or camp be too advanced for my child? You'll want to be sure that if you're taking your 10u Softball player to a softball camp or clinic that the instruction won't be so advanced that they won't take anything from it.
• Does the cost merit the Coaching?

These are just a few tips that you may find helpful when deciding to spend your hard earned cash.

Today's Web offers thousands of fastpitch softball instructional websites where you can find clinic quality instruction for free. One of my favorites is The Softball Clinic. The information on this site is useful for all levels of girl softball players from beginner to advanced. The softball instruction is easy to understand and parent friendly, the information is detailed, fresh and surprisingly free, which is good news in today's economy.

I hope you've found this useful in finding your next Softball Camp, Softball Clinic or Softball website, information is power, when the information fits your needs.

Softball Instruction - How to Slap Hit

Softball Instruction- Slap Hitting

So you've decided that you're going to make a slap hitter out of one of your Fastpitch Softball players. You arrived at this decision because your fastpitch softball player possesses the following traits.

• 1) The Softball player is a natural left-handed hitter and has very good speed, but not much pop in her swing.
• 2) The Softball player is a natural right-handed hitter, not much pop in her swing, but has very good hand-eye coordination and has better than average running speed.

I find these 2 items to be the most common thread in making a Slap Softball hitter. Now, by no stretch of the imagination is this gospel, or the only two reasons! I'm sure someone reading this will say they have a very coordinated right-handed hitter that can hit with power, for average and is fast as lightning and they should be turned around also... ladies and gentlemen I give you Natasha Whatley...

My point here is that there are the few exceptions to every rule but the two basic reasons for turning a kid into solely a Softball Slap hitter are outlined above. Clearly as you can see they both have the common denominator of speed and hand-eye coordination as the primary ingredient.

Fastpitch Softball Teams with effective Slap Hitters put a tremendous amount of pressure on the opposing defense. So let's take a look at how we go about teaching this style of Softball hitting.

Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitting - The Feet Matter

Understanding the use of the feet and how to start the crossover step along with the timing of the swing will be your starting point. Some will teach step back towards your left foot with your right foot, as a timing mechanism, then cross over with the left foot, some will teach step back away from the plate with the right foot (clear) and then cross over with the left foot. The main and most important ingredient here is the left foot cross over. This step MUST be towards the pitcher! I personally prefer and teach the first example rather than the step back. Be sure they are not trying to run before making contact. The hands move forward with the crossover step. The batter is stepping toward the pitcher, not first base. The slap hitter wants to make contact before she reaches the front of the batters box. The ideal position is her left foot is down at contact and her right foot is in the air, this will maximize her head start and prevent her from being called out for being out of the batters box.

Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitting - Keep the shoulders Square

The slap hitter must turn her hips (belly button) to the pitcher while keeping her shoulders closed (as in stationary stance) to the ball. The hands start out high and fairly close to the body. The slap swing is not a violent hack, but rather a controlled, smooth, inside out -- and slightly downward attack on the ball. It's important to let the ball get a little deeper into the strike zone, not out in front as you would on a stationary swing. Its okay for the top hand to release on the follow through. The classic slap swing produces a chopping ground ball to the left side of the infield, allowing the batter to race the infielder and the throw to first base. The slapper MUST keep their shoulders closed on the stride towards the pitcher opening up too soon trying to run to first will make it impossible to reach pitches on the outside corner.

Fastpitch Softball Slap Hiiting - Drag Bunt

Using the same technique as outlined above its also very important to teach your Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitter how to drag bunt. This is an effective strategey that will keep the 1st and 3rd basemen honest and bring greater value to your softball slap hitter as an offensive threat.

In teaching the drag bunt be sure your Softball player with her hips (belly button) to the pitcher while keeping her shoulders closed (as in stationary stance) to the ball. The hands start out high and fairly close to the body just like in the Slap positon. From here rather than slap swing, teach them to catch the top ball in front of them with the barrel of the bat. As they advance teach them to guide the ball towards the 3rd base line by leading with the knob if the bat at contact or the 1st base line, while leading with the barrel of the bat.

The most important points here are that they are catching or absorbing the top of the pitched ball rather than trying to swing. Their feet and body mechanics will be the same as outlined above.

Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitting - Power Slap

The "Fastpitch Softball Power Slap" like the "Drag Bunt" is used to keep the defenses honest. The Fastpitch Softball Power Slap like the drag bunt starts with the very same foot work and body position as outline above for the Slap. The batter uses the crossover step towards the pitcher, hips open, shoulders closed only here rather than take a softer chopping swing, the fastpitch softball player takes a full swing to drive the ball through the pulled-in infield. As with the slap and the drag bunt the softball hitters focus is the top half of the ball, which will produce a hard grounder or line drive off of the softball bat.

Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitting - Be Patient

Fastpitch Softball coaches be patient with this instruction, build a solid foundation and understanding of the process with your players. A good drill for the right-handed hitter that you're turning around is to put their fielding glove on before you give them a bat. With their glove on have them get in the box against a pitching machine. Concentrate on their foot work, with the left foot crossing over and stepping towards the pitcher, keep their shoulders closed and have them catch the ball with their glove. This will train the closed shoulders and feet before they try to swing, it also gives them a feel of the left hand in the approach.

I hope you found this helpful, don't expect them to be world beaters overnight, but with a solid focus on the foundation of the process in a few short weeks your softball line up will have another weapon to that will keep the opposing defense honest.. Remember, it's a game keep it fun..

Until next time, Softball is for everyone... Fastpitch Softball is for Athletes

Share it! — Rate it:

Softball - You Wish You Could Throw Like a Girl!

Softball - You Wish You Could Throw Like a Girl!

Softball Instruction you can use Part 3

Fastpitch Softball Hitting Instruction like golf has many opinions....
I'm sure if you're reading this Fastpitch Softball Instruction article you've stumbled upon it by doing a google search, looking for the best information you can find to improve your softball players skills. And with the vast number of softball articles out there you're probably going through some brain lock now trying to decipher it all. I know exactly how you're feeling!
When I put down the bat and glove I decided to get serious about improving my golf game. What the heck I figured, golf would be like Softball without the skinned knees and scabs. I'd simply subscribe to a couple of golf magazines and my game would be on track in no time... Yeah,Right!
There must be 200,000 ways to fix a slice, gain more distance, hit the perfect draw and I'm sure they all work... for somebody, not me. I just became more confused, the more I read the more contorted and tense my swing became. I was a robot with NO rhythm, until I read this book about simplifying the swing, and then it all made sense.
What you're about to read is designed to do the very thing for your softball swing. Make it easy to understand and give immediate feedback. I've seen young girls have there heads filled with so much well intended technical / mechanical jargon that they were in tears trying to figure out why they weren't hitting the ball. There swings looked great, but by the time they locked, loaded , got the knob of the bat headed towards the ball etc, it was past them. Mom's and Dad's became frustrated too, after-all lessons can be expensive.... what you'll find below is Free, give it a try and I'm confident that solid contact will be made very soon....


A good Softball swing starts with your Hands and Eyes..
Okay I told you this would be simple.... the last time I checked no matter how pretty my softball swing looks, if I have my eyes closed or if my head is moving the odds of making solid contact diminish rapidly. Furthermore, unless there is a new technique that I'm unaware of the only part of your body touching the bat are your hands... so this is a good starting point, and what we'll be focusing on below.
I can remember when Pete Rose was on his way to becoming the all time hits leader he was asked by a baseball reporter what he thinks of at the plate, and his response was simply "see ball, hit ball."
This simple advice will go along way when teaching a young hitter, and for some of you older college Softball hitters, even with your better understanding of the swing mechanics, this is always a good mental adjustment when things are going bad. Keep it simple! See Softball.. Hit Softball.

Softball Stance should be comfortable....
I will go into greater depth on the stance in future posts, but for now let's just build a good foundation. Your softball stance should be comfortable, with your hands just inside your back shoulder, and about shoulder height. Your weight should be distributed 75 to 80% on your back leg, again with good balance, not too much on your toes and definitely not on your heels.
You're going to want to feel the weight on your back foot positioned on the inside portion of the ball of the foot. See photo at right of Olympian Jessica Mendoza, who in my opinion has one of the best female softball swings I have ever seen.
From here all I'm going to emphasise is to keep your hands back until your ready to swing.... Remember your hands are what control the bat... see softball, slap softball with your bottom hand... yeah the lesson is beginning to take shape.. like I said this will be very simple, yet very effective...
See Softball.... Slap Softball....
This is where the softball hitting lesson usually gets technical, you'll hear terms like; throw the knob, short to it, long through it, stay inside the softball, don't let your front shoulder fly, etc. and this is all good information, but for a young hitter it's a lot to comprehend.
This simple softball hitting approach that I'm about to show you will accomplish all of the outlined direction above, and in my opinion is much easier for the beginning softball player to understand.
Remember a balanced stance is the foundation to the swing! Get your Softball player in her stance as outlined above then remove the bat. With the bat removed and your hitter in a comfortable stance acting like they're holding a bat, roll up a pair of socks, or a nurf ball works well, toss the socks or nerf ball into the hitting zone. You'll be positioned directly in front of them for this softball drill.
Just like we discussed in lesson 2 when you drop your hand to toss the sock this will be the indicator for them to load (keep their hands back) and stride. As the socks come into the hitting zone have them slap the sock with the back of their bottom hand, just like they would love to do to little brother when he comes into their room.
What we're doing here is getting the hands to the ball, be sure they are not leading with their elbow, as this approach, again, in my opinion slows the process of getting the barrel of the bat into the hitting zone. Simply have them backhand slap the sock with their bottom hand. As the left hand comes to meet the sock encourage them to point their belly button to the sock as well, without pulling their front shoulder out. This will begin to get the legs and hips into the swing. That's it, get in a good comfortable stance, keep your head still, and slap the sock with the back of your bottom hand. Yes, this is safe to do in the house and perfect for those winter nights.
Now I know some of you are thinking this is goofy, particularly if you've discussed it with your paid softball hitting coach, but trust me this will instill the proper approach to the hitting zone with the hands. As I stated at the beginning of this article, like Golf, their are thousands of opinions on teaching the approaching of hitting, and most of them are very good, but for young hitters it's important that we draw it in crayon first before we move to the video and powerpoint slides.
We'll discuss the use of the top hand in the swing in future articles. I hope you've found this information useful.
So until next time remember that Softball is for everyone... Fastpitch Softball is for athletes!

Fastpitch Softball - Soft toss drills

Disclaimer.....
In my previous post about Fastpitch Softball titled: Softball- Instruction you can use, I showed you how to turn that old broom you have sitting around the house into one of the best hand and eye coordination tools you could use for your softball players hitting development, not to mention save you money! If you didn't read that article please do so before moving on. If you have read that article then you've probably done a little research and you can confirm that these very similar products are being sold for as much as $50.
Now, please, let's be clear, I'm not telling you not to purchase these products, by all means do if you feel so compelled, I'm just showing you a way to make a similar product that will do the same job and save you some money, money you could use for a couple of cold, frosty, (you fill in drink of choice here) after a hot day out at the softball yard.. we're talking Slurpee's here kids...
Okay, now that the disclaimer is out of the way let's get on with the topic.


How do I use this broom handle bat.... Position One
Well, now that you've sawed the handle off your broom sweeping up the garage is out of the question, and if you're anything like me that's the good news. What you're going to do now is set your softball or baseball hitter up in their stance, their are a lot of opinions on stance etc.. so I'm not going to get to deep into that for now, I'll save it for future posts dedicated to the swing, just make sure they are comfortable, see photo to the right.
You are going to place yourself at a 45 degree angle opposite their front hip while on your knee or sitting on a bucket. Hold your arm out in front of you, when you drop your arm to toss the ball let your softball hitter know that is the indicator for them to stride (not big!) Then you simply toss the ball towards their front hip and have them swing. It may take awhile for a young softball or baseball hitter to get the feel for this and that's OK. What you don't want is for them to be swinging under the ball and popping it up, again I'll post more on the stance and swing later, right now try to have them make contact with the top half of the ball and we'll be well on our way.
This is the basic, most fundamental position of the four softball hitting positions for this drill. If your Softball or baseball player is just picking up the game stay here for a while until their making good line drive contact on a consistent basis before moving to the next position. This will instill the confidence needed to keep the drills fun, and please, keep these drills fun because after all softball is a game.

How do I use this broom handle bat... Position Two
You are going to place yourself at a 45 degree angle behind their front hip while on your knee or sitting on a bucket. Here your softball hitter won't be able to see your arm because you don't want them looking back over their shoulder so you'll have to give them a verbale indicator for them to stride (again not a big stride!) Then you simply toss the ball past their front hip and have them swing. Clearly this drill is more difficult and teaches them to make contact going to the opposite field. Please do not use this drill for the very young Softball player because it could frustrate them and that is just no fun. This is a good drill for the kids that are established and have a better concept of what you're trying to accomplish. Again, even for them It may take awhile and that's OK. Remember what you don't want is for them to be swinging under the ball and popping it up, have them make contact with the top half of the ball and we'll be well on our way.

How do I use this broom handle bat... Position Three
You are going to place yourself directly behind your Fastpitch Softball hitter while on your knee or sitting on a bucket. Again from this position your softball hitter won't be able to see your arm because you don't want them looking back over their shoulder so you'll have to give them a verbale indicator for them to stride (again not a big stride!) Then you simply toss the ball in front of them out towards where the pitcher would be standing, it's important that you toss it flat and about waist high. They will then pick up the ball out in front of the plate and make their swing, with the goal of hitting it right up the middle. Yes, this drill is difficult and should only be used as your fastpich softball player progresses.
Remember what you don't want is for them to be swinging under the ball and popping it up, have them make contact with the top half of the ball and we'll be well on our way.

How do I use this broom handle bat... Position Four
You are going to place yourself directly across from your Fastpitch Softball hitters stance while standing on a bucket or chair. Again from this position your softball hitter won't be able to see your arm because you don't want them looking up so you'll have to give them a verbal indicator for them to stride (again not a big stride!) Then you simply drop the ball into the hitting zone. They will then try to pick up the ball as it drops into the zone and make their swing, with the goal again of hitting the ball right up the middle. Yes, this drill is also difficult and should only be used as your fastpitch softball player progresses.
Remember what you don't want is for them to be swinging under the ball and popping it up, have them make contact with the top half of the ball and we'll be well on our way.

That's enough for now....
This is enough to get you started. These drills are excellent for the beginner or the most advanced softball player and will definitely improve their hand/eye coordination.
I like to use 3 different sizes of balls in this drill, the golf ball, the baseball and the softball. For the beginners I would start with the baseball as they advance move to the golf ball size and then step up to the baseball and finally the softball from each position. Watch how they rip the large ball at the end of the session, then watch how they rip the softball in their next game. Now don't you agree that is the perfect use of that old broom?
I hope you've found this to be helpful.
Until next time remember Softball is for everyone... Fastpitch Softball is for athletes!

Fastpitch Softball

Are you looking for a Fastpitch Softball site with original content? You've come to the right place. What you'll find here are tips and lessons from someone with success in the game of Softball , not a site about the history of the Softball, and how it was created in Chicago etc. I'm confident the tips you'll receive here will be useful for any player at any level!


Like you I've visited just about every forum on the web that discusses Softball. I first started doing this to see if I could find any articles about old teammates or competitors that I grew to respect over 15 seasons of competition, and it became clear to me, real quick, that most of the folks on these sites/blogs were Mom's and Dad's trying to find the best information for their daughter who had just taken up the game, or parents who felt the lessons they were paying good money for just weren't working out. Now, by no stretch of any one's imagination am I going to tell you that the information that I provide will be your end all of end alls, and I do suggest that you compare my theories and tips with the 100's of sites that provide information about the game of Fastpitch Softball. But as I said earlier, I'm confident that after you compare you'll find this site to be a useful tool and the information within can be applied to softball players of all levels.

Future posts will cover:

How to save money by making your own training devises
What are the first things a new Softball player should work on
Making Softball fun
Drag bunting
Slap hitting
Recognizing the pitch
Infield and outfield play
Timing your lead off
and drills, drills, drills that are fun and productive

Oh, by the way I did run across a few articles from ol' playing days and a few of those names are now very deservedly in the ASA and ISC Hall Of Fame. Here's to your success...

Until next time remember, Softball is for everyone.. Fastpitch Softball is for athletes!

Fastpitch Softball - Improve your Hitting Training Tools

fastpitch softball
Mom's and Dad's as you know by now this sport can really take a toll on your pocketbook for bats, gloves, cleats and ummm training tools. You don't have to look very hard to find the next best widget that is almost guaranteed to help your daughter improve her skills to the point where every College Scout will be offering her full ride scholarships.

In this blog I'm going to explain how you can save money and create one of the best Fastpitch Softball hitting tools from something I know that you have laying around your house. This in my opinion is one of the best Hand-Eye coordination tools you can use to improve your Fastpitch Softball players swing, and Hand-Eye coordination. If you've read my previous blog about Hitting Instruction this tool will also help that Baseball player you have in the household as well.

What is this item I'm speaking off.... a broom! That's right a broom, you see there are numerous Hitting Tools being sold at Sporting Good stores this very day made of hard plastic or fiberglass with foam grips about the same diameter as that very broom you have in your home. These items are being marketed as the training tool that will improve your daughters Fastpitch Softball swing. Now, trust me they will, but for $25 to $40 dollars they will also take a big swing at your pocket book.

Here is all you have to do, find that old broom you have laying around, you know the one with the bristles so worn it doesn't do the job any way, measure 34 inches down from the top of the handle and saw it off! Now go and get some white athletic tape and wrap the handle to give your Fastpitch Softball player a grip ( if you want to get real fancy you can use more tape at the bottom and make a knob just like on a bat) then start your tape again about 2 inches from the top of the bat and wrap down towards the handle about 8 to 10 inches to indicate where the sweet spot is. This is important because as you do soft toss with your Fastpitch Softball player you'll want them to be making contact here, and there you have it, a fantastic Hitting Tool that may cost you $5 bucks in replacing your old broom.

To get the full benefits of this tool you'll need to purchase whiffle golf balls, whiffle baseballs and whiffle softballs, but there will be more on that in future blogs as I explain some of the drills I use with this Hitting Tool.

Until next time, here's hoping your Fastpitch Softball experience is a good one.

Fastpitch Softball hitting instruction

Fastpitch Softball Mom's and Dad's you're the best! You'll do almost anything to support your daughters growth in the game, and that is to be admired. Fastpitch Softball is a great sport! That said it may be a sport foreign to you, and in your desire to get your darling daughter the best Fastpitch Softball instruction possible you ask around and are often lead to the local baseball hitting coach. Unfortunately this isn't always the best decision for your dollar.

Having been scouted by a few professional baseball teams before playing at the A/Open-Major division of Fastpitch Softball for 15 seasons I can attest that their are some differences in the approach to hitting a Fastpitch Softball then hitting a baseball. Subtle as they may be they are there, and a real good example to support this point is when Jenny Finch or other elite caliber pitchers face Superstar Major League hitters in an exhibition and make them look silly. Yes, both games have a bat and ball, and yes they are pitched to a similar strike zone, but from here things change. This is why I would encourage you to shop around for a hitting instructor that has played Fastpitch Softball at a level where velocity and Fastpitch Softball movement are understood. Womens College Softball has produced a lot of talented players and if you're fortunate to have one of these instructors in or around your community your dollar and time would be much better spent here.

Until next time here's hoping your Fastpitch Softball experience is a good one.

How to improve your Fastpitch Softball game

Welcome to Fastpitch Softball. This site provides tips and techniques for beginning Fastpitch Softball players to the most advanced Fastpitch Softball player. If you have questions not covered in Fastpitch Softball please feel free to email your question to rustygate@sbcglobal.net