Girls softball players need to understand the importance of hitting drills.   To score runs and give your team a chance to win, they have to be able to make solid contact and move baserunners around the diamond. And to be able to establish solid contact they have to have lots of practice.

Developing correct hitting mechanics is important at an early age. The old saying – you play like you practice – is extremely true. It’s also important to keep players motivated during practice. Changing up your drills sometimes will help in this area.

When it comes to hitting drills, there are six basic drills that make up the framework for all the others. While you may change small details depending on what that particular drill is focusing on, they will always fall under one of these six basic categories.

  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.

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL: 2 Dynamic Hitting Drills for the Slow Pitch

In today’s video tutorial, we are demonstrating 2 hitting drills for the slow pitch, that will add a great variety to your everyday practice plan, while training your young players in new ways.

 

Looking for more hitting drills and tips?   Then be sure to check out  Championship Coach Sue Enquist’s other  Softball Coaching Videos!   Sue will share some great tips and softball pitching mechanics, hitting and much more!   And don’t forget to  Like Us on Facebook, where we share more great ideas and suggestions for your practice plan!   You can also Follow Us on Twitter and Hangout with us at Google+!