Posted by: Stevo (stevo@linedrivesports.com) on Thu Jul 19 08:49:10 2001

Hello,
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> > > > I teach hitting for a girls fastpitch softball team. One of the problems we have is getting enough batting practice with live pitching. We don't want to wear out our pitchers in batting practice. But, they are the only ones who can pitch underhand with any speed and get the ball over the plate enought for a good practice session.
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> > > > But, there are a few people, including myself, who can throw strikes over hand. Do you think that pitching a softball over hand for batting pracice is good practice for softball hitters.
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> > > > I have been reluctant to try it. People tell me it will mess the girls up because they have to look at different place to pick up the ball. I am not I really accept this as a real problem.
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> > > > Others say that the overhand pitch is tacking down while the underhand pitch is tracking up and that this will affect the hitters percpective. This sounds like it could be a proplem but I dont know.
> > > >
> > > > What do you think?
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> > > > If you don't think it will work, why not?
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> > > > F J
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> > > >
> > > >
> > > FJ-
> > >
> > > There's no substitute for live pitching.If you don't have enough pitchers,get closer and have coaches or others throw from behind a screen.You can usually get enough accuracy and the shorter distance is the equivalent of lots of velocity.
> >
> > Tom,
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> > Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that throwing overhand is not a good way to pratice for for softball? I am not sure I understand what you are saying.
> >
> > F P
>
> Im not one of the experts on the board but I do have some thoughts on this as I also coach fastpitch and had coached baseball for years..
> Hitting is hitting .. see the ball .. hit the ball ...Hand eye cordination.. The mechanics are the same and as for tracking the ball differently... If your using both , I have found no problem with the girls adjusting .. I use baseballs , whiffle balls , golf ball size whiffles as well as the regulation size balls. And my girls are a team of good hitters.
> I play fastpitch as well as baseball, and I have no problem adjusting, other than the fastpitch softball does get in their faster than a baseball when you hit 40 yrs old. Those old pitchers can still fire a softball underhanded.
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> Im sure their is no great substitute for pitching to them from the same release point they would be facing .. But if its not enough batting practice or substituting baseballs now and then ... Ill take the latter ... I think it has helped my girls ... And I wont argue with success.
>
> (ps) Tennis balls work well , batting as well as outfield practice. And do also use baseballs during fielding... It works for us...
BsH,
I would tend to agree with the last post and Tom as well. We have the same problem at The High School I coach at and the solution is to move up to about 20-25 feet and I throw windmill through a screen. You can place the ball in different parts of the hitting zone a lot better from that distance. If a player is having a trouble with a certain zone, you can really concentrate on that and mix in other locations so as not to over groove one zone.
I recently opened a batting cage / training center that has both baseball, fastpitch,and slowpitch machines at different speeds and the girls that come in and hit all the machines have seen an improvement in their ability to see the ball and adjust in game situations. We elevated our baseball machines to simulate a downward plane and left the fastpitch machines on the ground to simulate the ball coming from the hip. Having them hit baseballs at 40, 55, and 65
mph as well as softballs at 40 and 55 mph hasn't hurt them at all. The players that hit 20 balls off of each speed are doing very well.
It's interesting that the girls are more willing to hit all the variations than the boys are.