The batting tee is probably one of the most fundamental tools, but it’s probably one of the most important tools that you have for softball conditioning. Today, we are spotlighting 2 hitting drills that utilize the batting tee to improve your athlete’s hitting technique.

Inside Pitch Drill

The first drill we are going to talk about is an “Inside Pitch Drill”. To begin, place the tee at the plate, putting the stem on the inside part of the plate.  Then we’re going to have the athlete drive through the ball and hit a couple sets.  The athlete sets up, keeps her head down on the ball, and drives through it.

This is a very good hitting drill. You’re teaching the inside pitch and focusing on the top of the bat making contact with the ball. And now you do reps. You do 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 cuts. Over and over again. And the athlete is working on their technique while they are also understanding at what position they’re supposed to hit the ball at.

You want to have the athlete hit the ball two to three feet out in front of the plate – not over the plate.

2 Tee Drill

For the 2 Tee Drill, we take two stems and stick them one right behind the other at the same level. The idea of this drill is to take your hitter and position them correctly, but then take the hitter and back them up farther than they’d normally be. They wouldn’t be in relationship to the plate anymore because now we have the stem really close to the athlete. So we have to back our hitter up to look at this being the pitch that they’re going to hit. They’re not going to position themselves where they’d be hitting this pitch. And what they’re going to do is drive into the lead ball. They’re going to hit the lead ball and drive through it. And as the ball comes off its bed, it’s going to come out and hit the front ball, coming in contact with it and driving it off the tee as well. Basically, what this is doing is working on hitting the center of the ball. So this is a concentration-type drill. You’re working on hitting right in the center of the ball.

As you know, coaches always preach that you want to hit the ball in the middle. That’s the ideal. Naturally, since this is the toughest skill in all sports, sometimes you hit the bottom, sometimes you hit the top. One of the nice things about this drill is it focuses on hitting the center of the ball. If the athlete hits underneath the ball, the ball will come up over and won’t make contact.

If you have an athlete that has a problem with dipping her back, this is a drill that would be useful for her. Because now she’s going to have negative reinforcement every time she dips.  One of the things you try to get across to athletes is some of the negative things that they do. Believe it or not, they don’t believe you all the time. By doing this, you show them that, yeah, wow, coach is right, I am dipping because look at the action of the ball. It is actually coming up and going over the front ball. So now you are reinforcing to them that they do have this problem, and now it’s easier for both of you to fix it.

Down Pitch Drill

With the smaller stem, we could work the same inside pitch drill, but now it becomes a down pitch. What’s going to happen is you’re going to hit 20, 30, 40 balls and the athlete is going to top some, and they’re going to hit some well. So they’re going to be reinforced both positively and negatively. And they can have something to choose from and to grow on.

For more great softball hitting drills, be sure to check out my Softball Drills and Practice Plans, complete with video demonstrations!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share more great hitting drills, tips and techniques!

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In today’s article, we will be going over an introduction to slap hitting, including the feet work, arm position, ball placement, bunting, hard slap and soft slap.

Slap Hitting Mechanics – Slapping Footwork

Its very important that you have the proper start in the batters box. We try to use the back corner of the plate straight in line with our back toe. This ensures that when we take our first step, we are still even with the plate, and when we make contact with the ball, we don’t move out too far in front of the plate.

There are 3 parts of the slap hitting footwork.

1^st step: Back

2^nd step: Crossover

3^rd step: To First Base

Slap Hitting Footwork Drill

The common mistake a slapper makes is opening up the shoulder when they take that first step.

This slap hitting drill is going to teach the players to keep their shoulders in, run straight to the pitcher with their feet crossing, and they don’t veer off to first base before making contact with the ball. This allows the player to have complete play coverage.

If they never make contact with the ball, they should never veer to first base.

Slap Hitting Arm and Hand Position

It’s very important to keep the hands up by the ears, at the top of the strike zone. You do not want the hands to drop below the shoulders at any time.

When we swing the bat, we want our hands to come into a “V” position. So when you take that 2^nd step – the crossover – the hands are going to come down into the V position, make contact with the ball, and then our hand releases to the shortstop. It’s very important that your hands release to the shortstop, which allows us to hit the ball to the left side of the infield.

It’s important that the hands stay nice and tight against the body, and that the lead hand (which is always the bottom hand) stays inside the ball at all times. Then it releases your hands to the short stop.

Another thing that is very important is that the lead hand determines the direction in which the ball goes. The top hand also determines how we bounce the ball. To perform a power slap, the top hand flattens out.

If you would like to learn more about slap hitting, be sure to check out our 5 Free Softball Coaching Videos from 11-time NCAA Champ Sue Enquist!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, were we talk about slap hitting and much more!

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Communication Drill

The key to this defensive drill is to communicate – to trust each other so the play is made, nobody gets hurt, and everybody knows where everyone else is on the field.

• Begin the drill with a line of infielders and a line of outfielders.

• Throw the ball, and have the infielders say “I’ve got it,” and the outfielders say, “Mine,” so that as teammates, they know who’s calling the ball.

• If an outfielder calls an infielder off, it’s her ball and the infielder will know it’s an outfielder calling her off because she will say, “Mine.”

• Add another infield line and have two infielders and an outfielder going at the same time.

• The outfielder needs to keep coming in to back up the catch, even if the infielder calls it.

• If an outfielder does catch the ball, she needs to get it to the infielder and not throw it all the way in.

• Next, divide the infielders into two lines. Designate the positions because it’s important on the field communication-wise that if two people call a ball, we know whose ball it is – again, to avoid collision and injury, and to make sure the play is made.

• Whenever an outfielder calls an infielder off, it’s her ball. If the shortstop and the second baseman both call a ball, it’s the shortstop’s ball. Again, this develops that trust that is necessary to make the play, and have everyone go after the ball hard.

Four Corners Drill

The Four Corners drill allows your athletes to work on making good throws while practicing teamwork.

• Divide your team into four corners.

• Start the ball in one corner, and then begin throwing clockwise.

• Player 1 is going to throw the ball to player 2, and then player 1 is going to follow the throw and get in back of that line. Player 2 is going to throw to player 3, and then get in the back of that line. Continuous movement.

• If a ball is thrown poorly or not handled, everybody is going to drop their gloves, run around the square once, and then pick up their glove and start the whole thing again.

• This drill works on achieving good throws, handling the ball, and is a great conditioning drill.

• We normally do this for a set amount of time. Once they have completed that amount of time, then we’re done.

If you are looking for more effective defensive drills, or would like to get a video of these defensive drills, be sure to check out my Softball Drills and Practice Plans series, complete with video demonstrations.  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share more great defensive drills and tips!

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The Swim Drill – Softball Conditioning Drill for Throwing

The Swim Drill is a great softball conditioning drill that can be used to work on achieving a proper arm swing when throwing.

**For this conditioning drill, you want to place a strip of tape on a softball. This will be used to practice and condition your line up, as well as view your ball spin.

How to perform the Swim Drill:

1. Get down on 1 knee
2. Put ball down on the ground so that the line is facing where you are going to throw it.
3. Begin to move arms in a swimming motion
4. Without stopping, pick up the ball
5. Continue to swim and then throw the ball with a flip and spin
6. Swim past the ball once, and then pick it up and release the ball in a natural movement

Make sure that you have the line facing straight, and you should be able to see the spin reflected by that line.

Remember, swimming involves both arms – one arm is going to pick up and throw the ball, and the other arm is helping to balance our throws, and move our shoulders and hips. You also use that other arm to point towards the target and help direct the throw.

For more great softball conditioning drills for throwing, be sure to check out the complete 35 minute online clinic at http://softballspot.com/sp/throwing.html   And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will sahre more great softball conditioning drills!

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Let Go’s

For this speed drill, you’ll need a partner and some kind of a belt or just hold on to the back of the pants.

• The running player falls forward with good posture, keeping their head up.
• Hold that position for a couple of seconds, and then drop the runner and let them go into an explosive sprint. Gravity helps to pull him forward for explosive acceleration.
• The runner must use good run technique. Knee up in front of the body and heel up under the hamstring, toes pulled up toward the shins.
• The runner should cock and load that foot so they step down to the ground with greater force.

Speed Drill Repetition:  Our distance is 10 yards. We want to go down and back as one repetition. Do three sets of three repetitions.  These are great reactive, explosive sprints.

Let go’s with resistance

Now let’s do our let go’s speed drill with a little bit of resistance.

• Fall the runner forward into the same starting position as last time, and continue to hold onto them as they explode into a full sprint.
• After three to four steps, let the runner go. This is like pulling back on a slingshot and firing them out. You want to get a little extra muscle recruitment followed by an explosive release of that muscle energy.
• The runner needs to be aggressive, use good technique and explosive acceleration.
• Be sure to step down to the ground and drive the elbows back.

Speed Drill Repetition: Down and back is one repetition. Do three sets of five repetitions.

Resisted arm work

For this speed drill, we simply need some two- to three-pound hand weights. These can be small dumb bells or small bean bags. This provides a little extra recruitment at the shoulder and arms to get our arms to work more explosively for speed. **This speed drill does not require a partner.

• Do about 15- to 20-yard sprints with the hand weights in your hands, being sure to drive the elbow back.
• Stabilize the core so you’ve got greater force at the ground.
• Focus on swinging the hands right by the hips. The hands should come back as far as the butt cheek with a good aggressive driving action backwards.
• Resist down and back, then repeat without the weights in your hands.
• Let that muscle recruitment explode with a free expression of speed. This will help to generate faster leg speed and greater acceleration for softball speed.

Will you be trying these speed drills with your players?  Do you have a favorite “go-to” speed drill you always use with your players?  Feel free to share below!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share even more great speed drills and tips!

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In today’s video blog post, we are talking about three important softball drills for developing more effective outfielders.

2 Ball Drill

The purpose of this drill is to get the outfielder working on their reaction to the ball. It’s also a good cardio workout!

• The coach is going to toss the ball to the outfielders left side
• The outfielder is going to back up and catch it, make a throw and then sprint to her right.
• Repeat this combination and move the player back and forth.
• Use a mix of fly balls, as well as ground balls.

Barehand Drill with softie balls

The purpose of this drill is so the outfielder can work on seeing the ball into their glove. In this drill, we’re going to use the softie ball, and the player is not going to use any glove – they are going to work barehanded. That way the player can concentrate on seeing the ball go into their glove hand. This drill is not an easy drill, and it takes a lot of concentration.

• You’re going to work both sides – the player is going to go out, turn their shoulders and work on their over the shoulders
• Work the left side and the right side.
• The player is going to use their glove hand only, and they are going to work their backhand side and their glove side.

Gap Communication Drill

The purpose of this drill is to get the outfielders to communicate with one another so they can make a play on the ball, whether it be a fly ball or a ground ball – whether it’s shallow or one hit over their head. As you do this drill, you need to designate a center-fielder. This will alleviate any confusion when two outfielders are calling for the ball. When two-outfielders are calling for the ball, the rule of thumb is that it is the center-fielders ball. Make sure you have your outfielders call it at the peak flight of the ball, and make sure they call it out a few times. If you are not the outfielder fielding that ball, then you need to get into that backup position as quickly as possible.

TIP #1: As an outfielder, as you run for the ball you want to pump your arms, which helps with your leg drive.

TIP #2: You never want to call the ball for another fielder – only call the ball if YOU plan on catching it!

TIP #3: Be sure that if you are the backup player on a ground ball, that you do not overrun the play. You need to get into the support position on a ground ball as well.

Will you be trying these outfielder drills with your players? To see the full 57 minute online clinic, including 18 wickedly effective practice drills for your defense, go to http://www.softballspot.com/sp/tof.html

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 In softball hitting, the grip is one of the most critical parts of a quick bat swing. And it’s how you grip the bat, how tightly you grip the bat, and in what position you grip the bat, that are important. If you follow some simple rules, you will definitely see your bat speed improve!

7 Techniques to Improve Your Softball Hitting & Bat Speed

Finger Grip

At our camps and clinics we simply take a batting glove, and mark a line across so it comes from the index finger down. It keeps our hand and our bat on top of the finger grip which is what we’re looking for. If we can keep the bat from getting back in the palm of the hand, we’ll have much better wrists.

Approach

How do you usually approach getting a bat? I grip it with a handshake. That’s all it is. I use this whether I am picking up a bat, or someone is handing me the bat. So what you do is simply take the bat, and shake hands with it and bring it in. And then you’ve got the top hand ready to go. Do the same thing if you’re shaking left-handed, with the bottom hand. Your grip is nice and loose, and your finger grip is in a position where it’s above that line we drew, rather than below towards the thumb.

One of the things you can do is simply put the bat out in front, and if you can pinch the bat between your thumb and your index finger, then you have a finger grip. If you’re only pinching inside the thumb and not the index finger, you’re going to get a slow bat movement. Out is quicker. We want to keep the wrists loose. We want that bat speed. We want to be able to explode our hands – our wrists – to the ball.

Hand Position

The next thing we want to look at is where we position our hands in regards to our body. What we want to do is try to keep the bat up high. Bottom hand approximately the distance of the high pitch, the high strike – the pitch, strike up, top of the strike zone – and opposite the armpit. And we keep this position and take the bat then the hands to the ball.

We want to keep a power position with both the lead arm and the top arm. We need power positions for both. On the power position, you should see the elbow going right toward the target, towards the pitch. You want to caution a little bit so you don’t get in too tight. You’ll see some hitters in too tight, and then it restricts your arms coming through quick. And remember it’s the quick swing we’re looking for. So we have a little bit of space, about the width of your hand in here, away from your body, but a power position.

Elbows

Elbows are down. So many times we see elbows up. What we find ourselves doing, as a hitter, is wrapping. It’s difficult to work against gravity. We’re in this position, we have the bat at about one o’clock, and as soon as you bring that elbow up, we want to decrease the distance it takes to go to the ball. We have to bring it up against gravity, bring it all the way around. And a tendency, because of the way we’re made anatomically, is we tend to drop that back shoulder going down. So let’s make sure that we don’t end up wrapping the ball. Come straight through it. So the elbow comes across in the power position, and they’re pointed down essentially, and the back elbow tends to be just a little bit higher.

The Front Arm

The front arm is basically a 90-degree angle between our upper arm and our lower arm. Get it up too high, now you’re back in wrapping.

Shoulders

Shoulders are relaxed. If one shoulder’s a little lower than the other, it needs to be the front shoulder. If you start out this way, you have a tendency to have a real problem because you’re going to drop more and more or you’re trying to move the bat back up. So it doesn’t hurt to start with it down just a little bit. Or just completely level. Either way, but if you’re going to err, err with it down a little bit.

Stance

In getting your stance, we also want to be level. Everything is level. If you get a good drop pitch, or a good rise pitch you’ll go right under it because the bat’s going to drop down, you’re going to hit the ball in the air. So keep your knees level and you’ll be in pretty good shape.

A couple other things I want to point out in terms of the stance. How far away do we stand?

Something I want to point out in terms of an open stance versus a closed stance. As I close my stance, which means I’m going to bring the rear foot further away from the plate than the front foot (in other words, I’m closing my body to the pitcher), notice as I move, the bat moves. Suddenly the distance from the bat to the contact point has been increased and we’re trying to keep it short and yet explosive. So if you’ve got an extremely quick swing, you’ve got extremely strong hands and wrists, you might be able to use a closed stance. But generally, you’ll see most people will have a square stance.

If you’re still struggling getting the bat around, you might try an open stance. That brings the bat even closer to the ball before the ball is ever released from the pitcher. So on our closed stance, if we start with a square stance and we open it up, now we’re facing the pitcher a little bit more. But once we start closing it up, you notice it’s a long way to go for an inside pitch. And that’s the pitch that oftentimes will be thrown because you’re going to be vulnerable to it. So start with a parallel stance or a square stance, both feet about equal distance from the plate. Stay up on the plate a little bit so that you can get some of the balls before they break. Before the rise jump, before the out curve goes, and before the drop pitch drops down. This makes it a little bit easier to hit. You’re not going to pick up that much time because of the velocity. But you will get to hit a lot of pitches.

Will you be trying these techniques with your players to improve their softball hitting and bat speed?  Do you have any other tips to improve a players softball hitting?  Feel free to share them below!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share more great softball hitting tips and techniques!

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Today, we are talking about the #1 mistake hitters make, and hitting drills you can incorporate to fix this common problem.

But first I want to talk abut what causes a breakdown in the swing. It usually caused by two things:

1 – You’ve got a hitter with a good mechanical swing, but the hitter makes poor choices. So if she’s swinging at bad pitches, mechanically her swing is going to break down. So as a coach, you don’t really need to breakdown the swing, but instead you have to focus on getting that hitter to be more comfortable and patient at the plate. Then the mechanics of her swing can be properly executed.

2 – You may have a hitter that has some common hitting faults.

So today, our video is going to cover common hitting problems and the solutions that can help that hitter become a more consistent factor at the plate.

Problem: Poor Pitch Selection

Poor pitch selection sometimes happens with our batters because they are making poor choices at the plate. Sometimes this happens because they are impatient. Or they’re not feeling very confident. So a good drill is to hold them accountable in practice.

Solution: Audible Decision Making Drills

The player is going to have to make a decision and call out the color of the ball as it comes into her zone. The pitcher is going to toss the ball all over the strike zone. The ball we are using in this drill has a number of colors on each panel. This forces the player to wait until the ball gets into the strike zone. She then has to call out the color and hit it at the same time. This forces the player to keep their head on the ball because they actually have to see the ball coming into the zone.

The Side Toss Drill

The Side Toss Drill is done with a regular ball and bat. The hitter is simply going to call out “Yes” and hit the strike, or “No” and hold back in the load position when pitched as a “ball”. You’ll see if the batter is calling it out too soon – you want her to wait as long as possible until it gets into her zone.

On the “No” pitches, the batter needs to keep her hands back after she’s taken her stride. That’s a key factor in being able to hit the off speed, or lay off pitches that are not in the strike zone.

Do you have hitters who experience either of these issues?  If so, will you be trying these hitting drills with them?  Be sure to come back and let us know how it works for you!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where you can discuss this and other hitting drills with softball fans around the world!

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The Six Basic Hitting Drills

1. Dry Swings – The simplest type. Just get into stance, and swing the bat, focusing on speed and mechanics.
2. Tee Drills – Hitting off the tee. The tee should be setup so that the ball is just inside your front foot after your stride.
3. Soft Toss – Here you’ll have a partner setup down on one knee off to an angle on the opposite side of the field of the batter. Now loft soft toss into the hitting zone for the batter to hit out into the field.
4. Flips – Setup the pitchers screen about 20 feet in front of the batter, and have your partner stand behind, flipping balls into your hitting zone from there.
5. Batting Practice – Throw from behind the screen, using a normal pitching motion, showing the batter a variety of speeds and locations.
6. Batting Machine – Using the batting machine, make sure not to only work one spot – move inside and outside to work all areas of the plate, and if you’ve got a machine that throws pitches other than fastballs, make sure to take advantage of that as well.

Hitting Drills Guidelines

Before we get into the hitting drills, there are a couple of things that are important to remember. Regardless of the type of hitting drills, there are 10 basic rules that you need to follow at all times. Following these basic guidelines will ensure that you have a safe, productive workout and will help you ultimately achieve your goal of becoming a better hitter.

1. Concentrate –Perform the hitting drills with a purpose!
2. Perform at Game Speed –Prepare yourself for game situations by practicing like it is an actual game.  What’s the point in practicing at 80%?
3. Be Aware of Everyones Safety – Make sure you give a heads up to anyone else is on the field, wear a helmet when appropriate and do a check of  equipment to make sure it’s in proper condition.
4. Don’t Overdo It – Be sure you take breaks, give your body an opportunity to rest and to avoid any bad habits that result from practicing through exhaustion.
5. Maintain Control – Don’t swing or pitch wildly.
6. Follow the Degree of Difficulty – Begin with an easier level of difficulty on the drill, then increase difficulty once you’ve become comfortable with the basics.
7. Don’t Be Afraid to Improvise – Don’t have a certain piece of equipment for the original drill?  Be creative and find something comparable to replace it with.  If you have an idea on how to improve the drill to better fit your individual needs or skills, go for it!
8. Target Your Weaknesses – The best way to becoming a great hitter is to find out what your weaknesses are, and make them your strengths. So ask your coach what you need to work on, and get after it!
9. Use the 10-5 Approach – Complete 10 repetitions of the drill, and then follow up with five dry swings or soft toss to help transfer over the principles and mechanics of the hitting drill to your regular swing.
10. Follow the 3 Keys To Success – Be consistent, follow a plan, and most important of all – Enjoy Yourself!

What are your favorite power hitting drills?  Tell us below!

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In today’s video blog, we are talking about communication drills for working on your team defense, focusing on positioning and communication on the fly ball.

1^st Base Fly Ball Communication

Drill Focus:

Dropping back on the forehand and back hand side and working on communicating with the outfield.

Remember you have a communication system in place. If the ball goes up, it goes down, and someone has to call it by peak flight.

If you have conflict between 2 infielders and an outfielder, set your precedence. I have the outfield take precedence when both the infielder and the outfielder call it.

Be sure the player is dropping back quickly, staying on one line of the ball and making the catch.

Foul Ball Fly Ball Communication

Drill Focus:

To make sure the 1^st baseman feel comfortable going right up to the fence.

We never want that ball to “thread the needle” which means between the infielder and the fence. Go all the way to the fence and then move back towards the field of play. Get to the fence/find the fence and then move inward

Fielding Bad Throws

The responsibility of the first baseman is to do a good job of fielding the poor throws from her other fielders, so this is a good drill series to incorporate into your practice plan. It has the first baseman work on dropping back towards the infield side, getting back into position to cover first base, set her feet and work the proper mechanics to on receiving the throw, glove foot out, and being able to catch the strike, the ball that is in the dirt, and the throw that is wide and high, during which she has to go ahead and release her foot and tag the runner coming in.

Its important you build confidence with your first baseman in fielding those balls that are in the dirt. Many times, if you have player that is afraid of the ball, use the softie balls and practice throwing the balls into the dirt as she plays first base and holds down the position. As she gets better, you can go back to a normal regulation softball. You can also put catchers equipment on them, so they can be more confident in working on their glove work when the ball is in the dirt.

Safety Issues

I recommend that the coaches throw the poor balls. We don’t want out other infielders practicing bad throws.

Will you be trying these Communcation drills with your players?  Feel free to share any comments or suggestions below!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will be sharing more great softball communication drills and much more!

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