Posted by: bart () on Sun Sep 21 13:14:29 2003

I've been coaching my younger sister (13) for years. Shes now playing competitive softball for a very good pony team. Lately we've been working on hitting to right field for power and shes struggling w/ the concept that the back knee and foot should point towards the target area of the field. Does anyone know any techniques for teaching this concept?


"w/ the concept that the back knee and foot should point towards the target area of the field" is a notion that is not accepted by many at this site, because the notion implies that hitting to the opposite field means hips & shoulders not rotating as much as they do on an inside pitch...

i happen to believe they do not rotate as much, but rather than getting into that i'll directly address your question.....rather than attempting to "target" the hips, try hitting the INSIDE part of the ball on outside pitches...i think if you sucessfully hit the inside part of the ball the hips, shoulders & everything else will do what they want & need to do to accomplish desired result......NOTE: USING THE FRONT EDGE OF HOME PLATE AS A REFERENCE POINT (OBVIOUSLY REFERENCE POINT DEPENDS ON WHERE STRIDE FOOT LANDS), IF YOU CONTACT AN INSIDE PITCH APROX. 12 INCHES IN FRONT OF HOME PLATE, THEN YOU WOULD WANT TO CONTACT THE OUTSIDE PITCH DEEPER, PERHAPS EVEN WITH FRONT PLATE.......