5 Back Yard Softball Hitting Drills

During this blog post, we’re going to take you through a series of softball hitting drills that you can use in your backyard to practice.

These drills will assist you in developing bat speed, bat quickness, proper sequence of swing, and rhythm and timing. They can help to make any player a better hitter.

These drills can be practiced in your driveway, in your backyard, your garage. There is very little space needed for you to perform them. So now no player has an excuse for not becoming a better hitter. Use a bat, use a ball, but do not use an excuse.

Soft Toss Fake Drill

During this drill, we are going to soft toss the ball to the hitter and let him swing through.

Your hitter should work on getting the front lower half of his body started into the swing and trying to use his legs first, rotating his hip, then his upper body, and then delivering the bat. Just keep your head down on the ball. See the ball all the way in.

This is a good drill to work on technique because it’s a non-threatening situation to the hitter in that it’s easy to hit the ball as it’s tossed to him.

Now we call this the soft toss fake drill because every once in a while I’m going to fake the toss to be able to see if he’s got his back foot up and beginning to rotate with the lower half of his body. Ideally, you’d like to see line drives and hard ground balls.

In this particular drill, ideally we would like the hitter to take 10 swings and then take a break. don’t rush your player. Take your time, make sure he’s set, on balance, and ready to go before you release the next pitch. We want him to work on rhythm, timing, perception, and the proper sequence of the swing.

Inside Soft Toss Drill

During this particular softball hitting drill, your players will work on pitches on the inside part of the plate.

Take the soft toss ball, show your hitter the ball, pull it back, and throw it towards his front hip. This will give him a feel for hitting a pitch that is on the inside part of the plate. Once again we’re working on rhythm, timing, and the proper sequence of the swing. Your hitter should work hard on trying to keep his hands inside the ball and swinging through the ball. He’s going to try to pull his hands through on the inside part of the ball.

Outside Pitch Soft Toss Drill

In this particular drill, I’m going to be tossing the ball to the hitter’s back hip, which would simulate a pitch coming on the outside part of the plate. Ideally, the hitter would like this pitch to get a little bit deeper out over the plate so that he can hit the ball to the opposite field.

Again we’re going to show your player the ball so he can work on his rhythm and timing, and work on that pitch. What we want is for the hitter to take the ball to the opposite field, hitting the ball deep back in the hitting zone.

Wiffle Golf Ball Drill

This next softball hitting drill incorporates Wiffle golf balls. Your hitter will use a broomstick with tape around it as the bat. This is a very good perception drill because your player is going to be hitting a ball that’s much smaller, obviously, than a baseball. So he’s got to track it a little bit more closely. He’s going to be using a bat that is not as big and wide as the normal bat that he uses. Therefore, excellent for perception, keeping your eye on the ball, trying to keep your head still so that you make contact with the pitch.

We will use our normal soft toss rules where we’ll show the hitter the ball, pull it back, and come through. We’re looking for line drives, balls that are hit hard on the ground. This is a much more difficult drill because the balls are smaller and the diameter of the bat is smaller.

Half-Bat Soft Toss Drill

For this drill, you can use a tee ball bat or a half-bat, which is just a baseball bat with the barrel cut off of it. The idea is that you’re using a bat that is smaller and lighter because we’re going to use one-hand drills here.

Your hitter’s just going to start off using his bottom hand and he’s going to swing through on this soft toss drill. Ideally, when the bottom hand comes into the contact position, we want it to be with the palm down. And that’s what we’re working here. It really isolates that particular spot in the swing and allows us to really concentrate on that. With all hitting drills, we want our hitter to continue to work on his rhythm and timing and the sequence of his swing.

These are just a few terrific softball hitting drills that can help your team become better hitters. Don’t forget to share this post with your fellow coaches and players!