Posted by: CDH (jtwelborn@triad.rr.com) on Sun Sep 20 21:02:09 2009

> I agree 100%. I teach my girls to hit like baseball players and the ones that listen, tend to be more successful. The math is the same. The only difference, and Sue Enquist can back me up on this, is the riseball. That short swing shortchanges girls who lack the power that can be generated with a longer, baseball-like swing.

I have had the privilege of coaching one of the best pitchers to ever play high school fastpitch softball in North Carolina. She's now beginning her college softball career at U. of Louisville. Her fastball speed is consistently 68+ and she has total command over all breaking balls and change-up. Over her four years of high school varsity softball, we noticed some glaring consistencies in opponent hitters. Hitters with the "short swing",(I would call more linear) struck out much more consistently against her than hitters with the "longer baseball like swing" (rotational). Her career ERA is an unbelievable 0.21 and is the state record, but those hitters who could hit her at all generally had mechanically correct rotational swings.