Softball Instruction - How to Slap Hit

So you've decided that you're going to make a slap hitter out of one of your Fastpitch Players. You arrived at this decision because your fastpitch softball player possesses the following traits.

• 1) The Softball player is a natural left-handed hitter and has very good speed, but not much pop in her swing.
• 2) The Softball player is a natural right-handed hitter, not much pop in her swing, but has very good hand-eye coordination and has better than average running speed.

I find these 2 items to be the most common threads in making a Slap Softball hitter. Now, by no stretch of the imagination is this gospel, or the only two reasons! I'm sure someone reading this will say they have a very coordinated right-handed hitter that can hit with power, for average and is fast as lightning and they should be turned around also... ladies and gentlemen I give you United States Olympian Natasha Watley...

My point here is that there are the few exceptions to every rule but the two basic reasons for turning a kid into solely a Softball Slap hitter are outlined above. Clearly as you can see they both have the common denominator of speed and hand-eye coordination as the primary ingredient.

Fastpitch Softball Teams with effective Slap Hitters put a tremendous amount of pressure on the opposing defense. So let's take a look at how we go about teaching this style of Softball hitting.

Understanding the use of the feet and how to start the crossover step along with the timing of the swing will be your starting point. Some will teach (step back or drop step) towards your left foot with your right foot, as a timing mechanism, then cross over with the left foot, some will teach step away from the plate with the right foot (clear step) and then cross over with the left foot. The main and most important ingredient here is the left foot cross over. This step MUST be towards the pitcher! I personally prefer and teach the first example (step back or drop step) rather than the clear step, primarily because I find it easier to teach the drag bunt from this approach (see Drag Bunt below.) Be sure they are not trying to run before making contact. The hands move forward with the crossover step. The batter is stepping toward the pitcher, not first base. The slap hitter wants to make contact before she reaches the front of the batters box. The ideal position is her left foot is down at contact and her right foot is in the air, this will maximize her head start and prevent her from being called out for being out of the batters box.

The slap hitter must turn her hips (belly button) to the pitcher while keeping her shoulders closed (as in stationary stance) to the ball. The hands start out high and fairly close to the body. The slap swing is not a violent hack, but rather a controlled, smooth, inside out -- and slightly downward attack on the ball. It's important to let the ball get a little deeper into the strike zone, not out in front as you would on a stationary swing.

The classic slap swing produces a chopping ground ball to the left side of the infield, allowing the batter to race the fielding infielder and the throw to first base all in under 3 seconds. The slapper MUST keep their shoulders closed on the stride towards the pitcher opening up too soon trying to run to first will make it impossible to reach pitches on the outside half of the plate.

Using the same technique as outlined above its also very important to teach your Fastpitch Softball Slap Hitter how to drag bunt. This is an effective strategy that will keep the 1st and 3rd basemen honest and bring greater value to your softball slap hitter as an offensive threat.

In teaching the drag bunt be sure your Softball player has her hips (belly button) to the pitcher while keeping her shoulders closed (as in stationary stance) to the ball while maintaining a cross over step towards the pitcher! The hands start out high and fairly close to the body just like in the Slap positon (we start with the hands high in all of thee approaches so that they learn to drop the softball bat on top of the pitched ball sending it downward to hopefully prevent the pop-up.) From here rather than slap swing, teach them to catch the top of the ball in front of them with the barrel of the bat. As they advance teach them to guide the ball towards the 3rd base line by leading with the knob of the bat at contact, or the 1st base line, while leading with the barrel of the bat at contact.

The most important points here are that they are catching or absorbing the top of the pitched ball rather than trying to swing. Their feet and body mechanics will be the same as outlined above.

The "Fastpitch Softball Power Slap" like the "Drag Bunt" is used to keep the defenses honest. The Fastpitch Softball Power Slap like the drag bunt starts with the very same foot work and body position as outline above for the Slap. The batter uses the crossover step towards the pitcher, hips open, shoulders closed only here rather than take a softer chopping swing, the fastpitch softball player takes a full swing to drive the ball through the pulled-in infield. As with the slap and the drag bunt the softball hitters focus is the top half of the ball, which will produce a hard grounder or line drive off of the softball bat.

Fastpitch Softball coaches be patient with this instruction, build a solid foundation and understanding of the process with your players.

A Couple of Excellent Slap Hitting Drills to get started:

• A good drill for the right-handed hitter that you're turning around is to put their fielding glove on before you give them a bat. With their glove on have them get in the box against a pitching machine. Concentrate on their foot work, with the left foot crossing over and stepping towards the pitcher, keep their shoulders closed, hips open and have them catch the ball with their glove. This will train the closed shoulders and feet before they try to swing, it also gives them a feel of the left hand in the approach.
• Nothing can replace tee work! Off of the tee have your young slap hitter work on her body mechanics. Do Not Start them out full speed! Have them walk through 1/4 speed and build from there. Allow them to feel this process and ingrain the proper muscle memory, and please don't measure them on making contact. Once they get the feel of the cross over step towards the pitcher, hips and belly button pointed towards the pitcher and shoulders closed you'll see their contact and Slap Hitting coordination improve rapidly.

I hope you found this helpful, don't expect them to be world beaters overnight, but with a solid focus on the foundation of the process in a few short weeks your softball line up will have another weapon that will keep the opposing defense honest.. Remember, it's a game keep it fun..

Until next time, Softball is for everyone... Fastpitch Softball is for Athletes