Spring and softball practice go together. Here are some good coaching tips for softball to get your season off to a good start.
Batting Tip
To get batters to focus on the ball as it leaves the pitchers hand, I have a few baseballs marked with different color dots, and pitch to them.
They are told to hit only the ball with say the red dots. This forces them to focus on the ball from the moment it leaves the pitchers hand. Make sure the batter can’t see the color dots before you pitch the ball.
You can make it into a competition, by eliminating a batter when he swings at the wrong color ball. Kids love it!
Patience at the Plate
In demonstrating the importance of being patient at the plate, we institute a “no swing policy” until you have worked the count to 2 strikes.
This can be done for practice games or scheduled games. We have found that the batter relaxes more (knowing that she has a plan for her at bat) and you have forced her to see multiple pitches.
In this day and age of pitch counts, this policy will be rewarding as well. Going to bat knowing you are expecting to hit with 2 strikes on you is different than going to bat with no plan and quickly being in the hole 0-2.