16yo Maddie

[Cornbread]

On slower pitching take a 2-strike approach and try to hit every ball down the right field line.

 

[jdint]

Any insight on how she adjusted? My DD struggles mightily against slow pitching.

 

[Quigs10]

High school softball is wild. There are pitchers who are just months away from playing with their D1 college team, and pitchers who are new to the game. In our league, it's pretty much extremes...and then there's my DD's team. The top 4 teams are stacked with TB players. The bottom 3 teams have zero TB players. Maddie's team as a few TB players, and a few that have never been on a softball field before this season. We get run-ruled by the top teams, and we run-rule the bottom teams. We've had just one game go the full 7 innings, and it was still a lopsided 8-2 win. Today is the last game of the season against one of the bottom teams, who is also the school's cross-town rival. We will be saying goodbye to 3 seniors, including our only 2 pitchers. Next year (Maddie's senior year), unless we get some magical freshman unicorn, we are going to be one of those bottom teams.

This year, Maddie has really struggled to square up the ball very against slow pitching. It's deeply frustrated her. Yesterday, it seems she solved the problem, and had her first-ever multi-HR game...

WTH was that (pitchers)? WOW, I have 10u girls (heck maybe 8u) that throw harder. What HS is that in So Cal? Not used to seeing that around the area. Usually all So Cal HS have at least 1 pitcher that is decent to good or with experience. Dang, that was like slo pitch softball right there. Good for Maddie on even timing that up. Almost gotta use a slo pitch stance and swing for that slow.

 

[black17]

Any insight on how she adjusted? My DD struggles mightily against slow pitching.

How does she struggle? Swing too early? Swing and miss? Swing falls apart? Lots of ways to get messed up on stuff like that.

Mostly its timing and overswinging. Stay over your feet or slightly back without breaking down on the back leg, and put your swing on like a 7 out of 10. Most kids put their swing at 12 on a 10 scale if they see that kind of pitch.

If my DD saw that pitcher, I'd have her do the 'Flamingo Drill' at the plate.

Of course we practice this for other reasons, but its a good swing rhythm breaker and makes you concentrate on the actual ball.

 

[Eric F]

Any insight on how she adjusted? My DD struggles mightily against slow pitching.

The biggest thing is keeping control of her weight with the rear leg/hip, and letting the swing shift her weight. Getting the front foot weighted too soon is death. She also did a double-stride thing that I've never seen from her before. From our conversation afterward while looking at video, it wasn't planned, but just an athlete figuring it out in the heat of battle.

 

[Eric F]

WTH was that (pitchers)? WOW, I have 10u girls (heck maybe 8u) that throw harder. What HS is that in So Cal? Not used to seeing that around the area. Usually all So Cal HS have at least 1 pitcher that is decent to good or with experience. Dang, that was like slo pitch softball right there. Good for Maddie on even timing that up. Almost gotta use a slo pitch stance and swing for that slow.

That was Glendale HS - they had a reasonable pitcher last year, but she graduated. Hoover HS (also in Glendale), and John Muir HS (in Pasadena) are similar in their level of play and pitching. Unless we get a magical freshman show up next year, Maddie's school will be in the same category. Meanwhile, 4 other schools in the league are at the other end of the spectrum, with deep pools of talent. One of the issues we have is that many of the talented players in our area either got to private schools, or transfer out of their district to one of the schools with a good softball program.

 

[jdint]

How does she struggle? Swing too early? Swing and miss? Swing falls apart? Lots of ways to get messed up on stuff like that.

Mostly its timing and overswinging. Stay over your feet or slightly back without breaking down on the back leg, and put your swing on like a 7 out of 10. Most kids put their swing at 12 on a 10 scale if they see that kind of pitch.

If my DD saw that pitcher, I'd have her do the 'Flamingo Drill' at the plate.

Of course we practice this for other reasons, but its a good swing rhythm breaker and makes you concentrate on the actual ball.

Swings way too early. Actually she swings too early against fast pitching as well. Gets her weight on her front foot and takes an all arm swing. I'll have try that drill this evening. Thanks.

 

[Eric F]

Swings way too early. Actually she swings too early against fast pitching as well. Gets her weight on her front foot and takes an all arm swing. I'll have try that drill this evening. Thanks.

Guessing...She isn't in control of her weight and forward move with her rear leg and hip. She's likely falling forward to her front foot, which is an uncontrolled move, and puts her in a position where she can't execute a high-quality swing. For Maddie, the feeling of staying on top of the rear hip on the forward move is critical. If she gets forward of it, she loses control of her timing.

 

[black17]

Swings way too early. Actually she swings too early against fast pitching as well. Gets her weight on her front foot and takes an all arm swing. I'll have try that drill this evening. Thanks.

Just as clarifying statement, I would NOT do this as an actual drill to improve being early on slow pitching. I was actually make her go to the plate during her at bat and do it so she breaks her normal swing rhythm. That just forces her to slow down and see the ball rather then just doing what she always does rhythm wise. Of course, you need to have fun with it too. Its going to get some strange looks.

Hopefully that makes sense. My eye started twitching thinking of a better way to say it but this is as good as I could do. Lol.

 

[Eric F]

At last weekend's PGF Qualifier, Maddie hit the ball pretty hard all weekend, and put one over the fence (with one of the colleges interested in her as a witness!), but it seemed like her power was a tick off her normal. She was also going oppo most of the time, which is not her normal pattern. One of the things I noticed was that her barrel was not getting nearly as close to aligning with her lead forearm at contact as she normally does when she is hitting the ball with her best power. Her hand/wrist action of turning the barrel was a bit lacking compared to usual.


In last night's session with @Mike-Coach Q, we discussed the issue, and she worked on refreshing the feel of the hands turning the barrel for a bit. After some drill work in the cage, she hit a few buckets of front toss on the field, and I saw a return to the alignment checkpoint I look for, and the power that comes along with it. I like this position SO much!


Here's a few swings from last night...