Tigers Softball Team

The Tigers

Coaching: Intro. Fielding Pitching Batting Base running Softball Gear Solo

Batting Basics


A good stance


When you set up in your stance the main (door knocker) knuckles in your two hands should be in a line. You can test whether they, and therefore your hands, are correctly aligned by sticking your two index fingers straight out from the bat. If your two index fingers are parallel your grip is OK, if not twist your hands round until they align correctly. Knuckles

A good swing


A note on women's hips

Hip rotation is a vital part of generating power when batting. This is especially true for women. A recent army survey of male and female recruits found that the females had 59% of the upper body strength of the males but 72% of the lower body strength, showing women get a higher percentage of their body strength from their hips and legs.

An example: McGwire

  1. Head down, eyes focused on the contact point even AFTER contact.
  2. Arms extended in a full follow through, driving THROUGH the ball
  3. Straight front leg, giving a stable base as the upper body rotates.
  4. Front foot closed even though he has stepped forward, this helps keep the swing level and the ball down.
  5. Weight stays central, lunging forward will lose power leaning too far back will cause the ball up to pop up high into the air.
  6. Back foot 'squishing the bug', the foot rotates and the heel comes up but the toes stay on the floor.
  7. Hips fully open, belly button facing the pitcher, tranfers all the force of the swing into the ball.

Hitting it where it's pitched

Where to go is good advice for a batter but what does it mean ? It means hit a pitch down the middle back over the pitcher, an outside pitch is hit to opposite field, an inside pitch down the line closest to the batter. The diagram shows how a right handed batter should look to hit the ball. The closer the ball is to the batter the earlier, further in front of the plate the batter should hit the ball.

7 steps

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