Posted by: Rich () on Mon Feb 23 20:31:23 2004

I am currently attempting to take my daughter to a new level with her hitting. She is a power hitter but far too often she hits grounders and I'd like to see her hitting more line shots. While she plays tournament ball her coaches are all volunteer and, while good intentioned, are not real students of the game. I mean don't get me wrong they are great with the kids its just that I have been doing a LOT of reading on rotational mechanics and am convinced that a rotational method is what I need to teach my daughter.
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> OK, here is the question..... is there a difference between the softball swing and the baseball swing? I have heard various answers to this question. Some believe that the softball swing has to be more level because the ball is pitched from a lower level and is rising up. Others state that even though the softball is released from a lower point than a baseball by the time it gets to the plate its trajectory is in a downward path so a softball swing should not be any different than a baseball swing.
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> Frankly it is very frustrating because if you talk to 10 different people (all of whom can be knowledgable to varrying degrees) you will get 10 different opinions.
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>Hey Dave,

Don't take anyones word for the ball coming into the strike zone on a downward plane. stand back and check it out for yourself... then you'll have faith.

You might have your DD keep her front arm's bicep tight against her chest and raise the front elbow a little more. this will get her on plane much better... i've been working with my DD on this very same thing and it's made all the difference.

In fastpitch softball you have to have the quickest possible swing there is. ROTATIONAL IS THE ANSWER. a side benefit is enormous increase in POWER. caution: DD might want to be a power hitter once she feels the juice. :-) best of luck, Rich