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

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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!