Fundamental Drills for Softball Hitting

Casey Bass: Today, we've got our friend in the show, Crissy Rapp. She is here to teach me the basics of softball. We've had a lot of responses on our message boards, and all over the place about out softball shows. I wanted them to see more technical softball stuffs. Today, Chris is going to teach me, a guy who's never had a fast pitch softball, how to do so. Crissy has got a lot of experience. She played at Wesleyan -- coached at Wesleyan College, she played at Georgetown College, and she's even played internationally. So, if she can teach me, she can teach anybody. So, stay tuned. Casey learned softball today on Clubhouse Gas. That's about as far as I get for instructing you on fast pitch softball. I teach you how to juggle, but that's it. So, we got on an expert, Christie Rafts here. And, she is going to work with us on some drills for beginners in fast pitch softball. I'm going to do something that you guys probably wish I should do a lot more of. And, I'll just turn it over to her and say, Crissy teach me how to hit a fast pitch softball. Crissy Rapp: Okay, there are some basic drills that I like to do with beginner softball players, specifically, in hitting. A couple of key things that like them to grasp early just to make sure that, they are getting proper habits early. Because if they don't have those proper habits later on the road it's harder to go back and correct. So, the first drill that I would like to do is just to work for the hitter to really work on keeping their weight back, and turning your hips to really get that hip drive to get the power, so she's not just all arms. A common mistake with young athletes is when the pitch is coming in there, they are excited, they are anxious, and they lunge forward to make contact here, and all of their weight and power is gone out the front half of them. So, what I would like to is, we put the bat behind the player's back; they step up toward the plate. Obviously, they are not going to make contact where they would in a regular swing, but it's just for their hip action. We are going to make it realistic. Look toward the pitcher, going to take a little stride, and just turn those hips and knock the ball of the tee with the bottle of the bat behind our back. So, making it realistic, we trigger back a little bit, step, and, knock the ball off. And then we freeze in that position, just to check for that squishing of the bug that we've all heard. So, turning that back foot keeping your weight back and then keeping that front foot pretty much pointed over and front of the place. So, we don't want that foot pointed toward the pitcher. We want to take that stride, pretty much pick it up and put it down. The stride that I'll talk more about is kind of more of a timing mechanism. So, again we just want to be right here. We are going to pick it up, put it down, and then freeze. And, you can also have the player, once they make contact; just do a little hop; just to check for their balance. So again its stride, turn, and then take a little hop just to check their balance. We want them keeping their weight back, and really turning their hips, and getting their belly-button pointed pretty much toward the pitcher in front of them. Casey Bass: Alright, so that was all squashing the ball, engaging the hips. So once we got that licked, where do we go to next? Crissy Rapp: Okay, the next one Casey, I think I am going have you jump in and try, alright? Casey Bass: Alright, this will be fun for all those who like to laugh at me. Crissy Rapp: And again, we're really working on keeping that weight back; so keep all the power, because in softball the power comes from your hips and legs. So, keeping that weight back, squishing the ball, throwing the hands out in front, and making solid contact. So in this drill, Casey, what I want you to do, as I wants to go from your stance position, hands raised just a little bit, you got the upside down begin arms and you are going to take three strides before you swing. Casey Bass: Like that? Crissy Rapp: That's it. And then, go ahead, and take your swing. One, two; now, I am going to stop you. Because, what I don't want to see is when you stride, that hip is coming forward. So, I want you to work more on striding, but keeping your weight back on that back leg. So, nothing's moving except that foot. Out-in, Out-in, Out-in, Swing; One-two-three. Crissy Rapp: There you go. Good. Let's do one more, and then after that swing, I want you to freeze; after you swing through. So, we are staying back, take three strides; one, two, three. Crissy Rapp: Good. But that was correct, because you stayed back on that back leg. So, your hips aren't coming forward. One-two-three. Crissy Rapp: There you go. Good. Now, a good progression from this drill is we are going to do that same thing but prior to, I am going to give you thing to think about. mentally, I want to see how you react to it. So go ahead and get into that stance position, and I want to pretend that I have got a bungee wrapped around your waist. And, I am standing behind you, and I am going to pull right here, what would you naturally do? Trigger back on the back leg a little bit, right? Casey Bass: Yep. Crissy Rapp: So, before you take your strides, I want you to just trigger back. Casey Bass: Before the three? Crissy Rapp: Yep, to get that weight back just a little bit more. Trigger back. Now, take your strides; one, two, three. Crissy Rapp: Good. Good cut. So, that's just a basic drill to work on, taking that stride, but at the same time, not lunging out, as you take the stride. So again, it's just a timing mechanism that you should always be able to pick it up, and put it down, by keeping your weight predominantly on the back leg. Casey Bass: Alright, so we've talked a lot about keeping our leg back; we've talked about timing. That's one more thing that we could work on, to have three good drills that we could work with the younger girl on. Crissy Rapp: One more is, just putting it all together, so, taking the three steps out, and just putting it together. Taking a cut trying to make solid contact. throwing the bat head right at the ball. I like to tell the kids, pretend that there is a string from the end of the bat, right here to the ball. So, all you're going to zipping it, straight to the ball. Casey Bass: Where do you want me to make contact? Crissy Rapp: Right here. Casey Bass: Out that far in front of me? Crissy Rapp: Yep. So, your hands out front, extend those arms, and extend at the elbows, and attack the ball. Crissy Rapp: Good shot. Waist stayed back. Turn on that back foot a little bit more, squish that bug. Crissy Rapp: Good cut. So, this is just putting it all together. And actually, one more I'm thinking of real quick. If I notice that Casey had a loop in his swing or if he was triggering back and his hands were coming back. Another thing we can do is, come right up here. I want you to put your foot here, and you just get your stance here, with the net behind you. Yep. Now, I just have you take a normal swing. So, pretend that pitcher is out there, pitch is coming in. Go ahead, and take a strike. There you go. So, we don't want to hit this net. So, if the batter is looping, and the hands are coming back, and they're dipping the back hand, we don't want to dip it. So, we want straight from the ear; boom to the ball. So, that's another good drill you can have an athlete work on. Even by yourself, or if there are partners to watch each other, to see if the bat is hitting the net or of it's coming straight to the ball, which is what we always want. Casey Bass: Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate that. Hope you can come back, alright? Crissy Rapp: You're welcome. Absolutely. Casey Bass: That's going to do it for us today. She's Crissy, I am Casey. We will see you round back here tomorrow on Clubhouse Gas.