Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Mon Jun 18 13:34:44 2001

I am not sure the swings are exactly the same. One of Mike Epstein's absolutes are that the plane of the swing matches the plane of the pitch. Since baseball pitches begin over the pitcher's head, while softball pitches come in from around knee level, one would conclude that baseball pitches come in with more downward movement. Therefore, I beleive the softball swing should be more level (to the ground)than a baseball swing, where a slight uppercut is preferrable.
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> I am hearing of more and more fastpitch players being taught to swing down into the ball ... Does anyone here see the need to hit fistpitch softball any different than baseball.
> > Jack, wouldnt the swings still be the same?

Fastpitch softball, at least the girl's version of it, is still in a very immature phase as far as hitting goes.
The pitchers routinely overwhelm the hitters. THe prominent hitting style is linear. Power is almost non-existant. Bunts and slaps are routine, drives are rare.
Many proponents swear that the fp swing has to be different. But at the NCAA College World Series, the Arizona girls used heavier, end-weighted bats. Toni Mascarenas hit some huge homeruns and she is only 5'5" - but she has a baseball swing, not the fastpitch linear stuff so often taught.
Check out the Fast Pitch Forum for a long running debate on fp hitting styles (search google for 'fast pitch forum' and bookmark the odd URL).
If you go to High School or tournament fps, in many areas you will see the widest variety of dysfunctional swings - things you don't see in baseball very often if at all.
Jack's technique works just fine. My daughter worked all winter on it. She's a sophomore in HS. She was 2nd in her conference in BA (.408) and nobody can throw it by her using rotational mechanics.
Her problems are experience: how to cope with different pitches, how to read a pitcher, how to manage an at-bat, etc. Mechanically this stuff works just fine.