Posted by: () on Sat Dec 7 06:28:09 2002

> You are correct that baseball and fast pitch softball are different games. The dimensions of the field are different which one of the major factors in how the came is played. Base paths are also different etc. No doubt that you cannot use exactly the same strategies in softball as baseball.

As for hitting, My personal opinion, especially with girls, is that the "old school" style of teaching hitting produces weak hitters and that is part of reason why the is a general lack of offense. If you look at the college game the hitters are starting to catch up. One the reasons why I think college are just starting to get smart and look for power and also have begun to change their approach to hitting. The Oklahoma team just hired and asst coach who was a baseball hitting instructor. Candrea is an old baseball guy etc. And if you look at some the better hitters in college softball that look more like MLB hitter than you might think.

Now don't get me wrong are there are difference in baseball hitting and softball hitting. The most obvious is the release point. The plane of the pitch is also somewhat different because a baseball in thrown overhand off of a mound which cause a steeper trajectory that is not seen in softball. Also take a stop watch a time a pitchers wind up in baseball vs softball. Most like you will find it the baseball pitcher take about twice as long to go from the wind up to the release than in softball. I think this allow baseball hitters to have a lot more variation in there stance because they have slightly more time to get their swing launched.

I have also seen clips of baseball hitters trying to hit softball. But how many times do they get the see that pitching. I truly believe a good baseball hitter goo hit fast pitch well also if they could continually see that type of pitching on a regular basis.