by Chrissi Bruckner & Chrissi Lipp HITTING BASICS by Chrissi Bruckner & Chrissi Lipp www.fastpitchchallenge.de

STANCE

LEGS slightly more than shoulder-width apart comfortable solid stance -> too close = no balance -> too wide = no explosiveness knees slightly bent

FEET AND WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION feet pointing straight ahead weight on balls of feet distribution of weight: 50% - 50 %

HIPS „open“ pointing to the pitcher with one side

SHOULDERS „open“ as well one side pointing to the pitcher both shoulders relaxed, same level

ELBOWS point in a backward V (bat as top of angle) downward relaxed stance

HANDS As high as back shoulder, not too far from the body First knuckles lined up

EYES AND HEAD POSITION Keep head still, not tilted -> eyes are parallel to the ground completely turned to the pitcher

STRIDE AND LOAD-UP While the hands go back loading up, the front foot makes a short stride without opening up. The distribution of weight changes from 50 : 50 % to 60 : 40 % or even 75 : 25 % on the back leg Gliding step as a stride ( „ on ice „ ) Toe touches the ground first

SWING After toe-touch the hill plants onto the ground. At this moment the distribution of weight is again 50 : 50 %. The hips start a quick turn Hands follow, as soon as the hips have started their motion Front foot opens 45° maximum The front leg is almost completely stretched, while the back leg and the back hip turn to the pitcher

SWING ( continue ) At the point of contact with the ball the hip is not completely closed yet and the arms are not quite extended, but in power position. At contact the hands are always between ball and body (avoiding a wide swing and generating more power)  the path of the hands is short and straight to the ball,keeping on a line inside the ball, head of the bat is thrown as quickly as possible on the same plain as the ball , then extended through the ball

BAT SPEED A hard long hit is produced by a fast and powerful contact with the ball, without stopping or slowing down. Hard hits are the result of a quite high bat speed. Requirement for this is a sound basic technique. Pay attention to the action of the hands, the accelerationa and rotation of the hips, timing and contact point. Well-trained abdominals and back muscles are essential to generate high bat speed

DRILLS 1. Chinese (Front) Toss 2. dropping a ball from above 3. Swift-stick: quick back and forth 4. Quick Toss: with swift-stick + whiffles 5. Football Hitting (best off tee) 6. Hitting tossed incrediballs with heavier bats 7. Balance beam: dry swings, + hitting off Tee 8. “Step into the swing”: off tee

INSIDE – OUTSIDE HITTING Two main differences between inside/outside hitting are 1. contact point 2. position of hips at contact. On an inside pitch contact point is IN FRONT or „ early „. At this moment the hip is already turned and the middle of the body is directed to the contact point. The contact point of an outside pitch is in front of the back knee, or „ later „. At this moment the hip / the middle of the body is turned to the contact point as well, but this time it is not completely closed since the contact point is way behind.

DRILLS 1. Tee inside 2. Tee outside 3. Toss inside 4. Toss outside 5. Front toss behind screen; coach tossing inside/outside on command 6. Front toss, (hitting only pitches to one side at a time / inside oder outside) 7. High in; side-front toss to the hands 8. Low balls : toss