Posted by: Larry Briody (ljbriody1@aol.com) on Sat Nov 30 08:12:18 2002

I have a twelve year old girl who is playing fastpitch softball. I spent quite a bit of money last year on hitting instruction using the rotational method. What I noticed as a result was my dughter was able to make very good contact and seldom struck out. However, most of the hits were on the ground to the right side of the field (she bats right handed) with less then average power. Practices start again in January so I am wondering if there are a couple of things I could be focusing on at home on at home that would help to improve her timing and power.
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> Phil I would recommend a video camera to capture her swing and play it back in slow motion...and to also read along with this site... www.mikeepsteinhitting.com site.. the topics regarding getting the bat on the same plane of the ball instead of the downward swing taught by alot of fastpitch coaches which causes more ground balls especially on the low strikes .. And also her batting stance and stride , could it possibly be to closed and not allowing her to open her hips ( locking her hips ) enough causing more ground balls to the right side ... Video playback tells alot...
> Phil, There are a number of things you can do to help your daughter become the hitter that she wants to be.You can study the material on this site over the past months and years and you will find the answer to many of your questions. The setpro site which is currently off the board was a wonderful place to go and learn . Other sites are difficult to recommend because the method of hitting that most advocate does not jive with what is being taught at batspeed.Even other rotational sites(Epsteins) can be confusing as I have seen that some of the information found their can be misleading and create rather than solve problems.Books on hitting like that written by Ted Williams are excellent rescources to help round out your education on the mechanics of the swing.The mental side of hitting ,such as understanding counts and pitcher tendencies is another area that you can delve into in order to give your daughter the best chance to succeed at the plate.When faced with your particular concern, what worked for me was to make a video tape of my girl from the side,the front and the back and send it off to Mr.Mankin for analysis and she has since become a D1 player who made 2nd team all conference as well as the all tournament team in the league championship series as a freshman.Mr.Mankin told her what she was doing right and very tactfully in what is an excellent instructional manner how to work on what she needed to work on in order for her to maximize her fun and reach her potential.Good luck to you and your daughter!