How To Hitting Tips for Slow Pitch Softball

Hitting Tips/Drills for Slow Pitch Softball I coached softball for seven years at the high school and amateur level. The tips and drills below are what I used to help my hitters in slow pitch softball. Work on hitting in softball can be accomplished with or without the help of another individual . This article will give you some individual hitting tips/drills to help you improve your hitting technique for slow pitch softball. Some of these tips/drills can be varied. 

Slow Pitch Hitting Drills 
Soft Toss: Move back from the fence or net. Hold the bat in your weak hand . Hold the ball with your strong hand . Now toss the ball slightly in front of you. Hit the ball. Focus on getting your hands to the bat quickly. This is the key in doing this drill . If you toss the ball outside, hit it to the opposite field. A toss that is inside to you is a ball to pull down the line. The toss dead center is to be hit up the middle. Try to drive through the ball. Avoid upper cutting at the ball. Do not hit down on the ball either. Simply try and hit straight through it with a level swing. Keep your eyes on the ball. Always follow through on your swing. In the back of your mind, think attack the ball. Use regular size softballs. This is a good drill for learning to hit to all fields. 

T-Practice: Set your T close to a fence or a large net. Make sure there are no posts in the area you are hitting. Set a ball on a T. Direct your swing towards the ball. Do not make contact. First just bring the bat up to the point of the ball and freeze. Look at your hands . Make sure you have a palm down and palm up. Now repeat. Check your hands again. Now swing through the ball and hit the ball into the fence or the net. This is a great drill for working on centering the ball on your swing. 

Fungo Practice: Once you have mastered the first two drills, try doing some fungo practice. Use the same bat and balls. Try to elevate the ball by slightly upper cutting with the bat. In this drill, you could use some fielders to shag the ball for your. If you have an adjustable T, raise it a little. If you soft toss, try to hit the ball at a little higher arc. Expect to hit some foul balls when you first start. This is a good drill to use for elevating the ball on your swing/hit. 

Tree Ball: For this hitting tip, you need an old softball. Drill a hole through the center of the ball. Next, take a long rope and thread it through the hole. Tie a large knot in the rope at the end. Now, tie another knot at the other end very close to the ball. These knots will keep your ball from sliding up the rope. Take this and tie it from an extending tree branch. You want the ball to be about your waist high from the ground. Steady the ball with your hand and take your stance. Now you can work on a level swing. If you can hit a little downward, this is good. Most slow pitch softball pitchers want you to try and hit upward. This drill will allow you to do otherwise. 

Kitten Ball Hitting: Instead of 12 inch softballs, go to the larger, softer and heavier 16 inch kitten ball. Have your batting practice pitcher throw you batting practice with this larger ball. Usually three balls are plenty for this practice drill. When hitting this ball, you will have a hard time getting it out of the infield. Focus on driving the ball through the infield holes. This ball gives you a larger target to practice your swing. It will also add power to your swing over time. 

Final Key to Success: A good slow pitch softball hitter will try to hit down or level on the ball. A good pitcher will have a lot of backspin on their pitch. This encourages the pop up or weaker hit ball. This is what you must avoid. 

sources: myself

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