Posted by: Dave (cdpaetkau@telus.net) on Mon Nov 24 10:59:41 2003

Hi Dad

Almost no hitter can start hitting a ball, at will, at either the top or bottom half of the ball. Your swing dictates a higher likelihood of hitting a fly ball or a ground ball and, except for the highest level athletes, most players in softball are not taught how to focus on hitting a rise ball or drop ball properly. Most coaches want a player to hit line drives or at least hit the ball consistantly hard and the difference between a lazy fly ball and a line drive is about 1/2-1 inch difference on where you hit the ball.

Continue to evaluate your daughter's progress the way you are doing by using contacts instead of always base hits. Remember though that if you are consistantly hitting fly balls that are caught a slight adjustment may help some of those fly balls into line drives.

Just my opinion.

Dave