In today’s video blog post, we are going to talk about softball hitting and the “One Arm” drill. This is a great drill that focuses on the arms, emphasizing unlocking the elbow and then the wrist. During the drill, we’ll work hitting down the inside, middle and deeper in the zone.

Equipment Needed

  • regular ball
  • small softball
  • training baseball
  • bat
  • batting tubes **
  • plate stand

**The important thing to remember when using the various tubes, the tube needs to be out in front when hitting the inside pitch, a little bit further back towards the catcher when working the middle pitch, and little bit deeper in the zone when working the out zone.

The Drill

– Start in a kneeling position, down on one knee. This is to emphasize the upper body working the drill.

– Notice when you set up you have a cock in your wrist and a cock in the elbow. Make sure the barrel and the bat are in an excellent launching position.

– On the swing, you want to make sure that upon contact, you have a slight bend in both the elbow and the wrist.

– The first motion should be very short and compact. A quicker line to the ball is a quicker swing. The quicker the swing, the longer you can wait to make good decisions when your hitting.

– Repeat this through the middle zone, the inside zone, and the outside zone. You also want to be sure to run the drill with the regular ball, small softball, and training baseball. The smaller balls equal a smaller target, which means you need to be more precise in your hand eye coordination

– Be sure to go through this drill with both the front arm and the back arm. This emphasizes more strength with the front arm and the back arm when you isolate it with the youth bat.

– Check that you aren’t moving your torso backwards when hitting the ball — that you stay very vertical in your swing. Make sure your head is down and on the contact area, and that you don’t pull your head out when swinging.

– The lead toe must be closed to the pitcher. The toe pointed to the pitcher opens up the hips immaturely.

– On the inside pitch, keep the hands inside the path of the ball or the “T”, and work on hitting the ball right up the middle. This helps combat hooking an inside pitch and getting it fouled.

– Finish this softball hitting drill series with the outside pitch. (**Remember, at this point the tube is placed a little deeper towards the catcher.)

 

If you liked this drill, be sure to check out “Softball Drills & Practice Plans“, which contains more video training on this and many other great softball hitting drills!

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