Girls Fastpitch Softball Hitting

vs. Baseball Hitting

Does it matter?

Most of my coaching is specialized to girls fastpitch softball hitting and position work.

Not to brag, but I got good enough where some parents wanted to bring their boys to me. I told them that I would have to teach them the way I taught the girls and it's been working great, because the methods I teach are almost identical to the short stroke hitting methods advocated by many baseball coaches.

But being a good and conscientious coach, I wanted to make sure what I was teaching was going to be good for the boys in the long run, not just the short run.

I found 3 - 4 things. 1) Any approach that is based on consistent contact, a good fluid swing, and a swing that generates bat speed will be effective for girls or boys. 2) There does seem to be a swing that would be more optimal (notice in point 1 I said effective) for girls and a different approach for boys. 3) The approach I teach is the one validated by most, if not all, of the top hitting coaches for girls. 4) For boys, there doesn't seem to be one theory of hitting that's best (as there does for the girls), but about 3 or 4 methods (the short, compact swing like I teach, being 1 of these).

The differences between girls fastpitch softball hitting and baseball hitting seems to be 1) the release point -- the hip area vs. the shoulder area, 2) the angle the ball comes to the batter -- up vs. down, and 3) the quickness required in reacting for the girls vs. the boys. Did you know that due to the shorter pitching distances, at the highest levels, the women's 72 mph arrives in .40 seconds to home plate and men's 98 mph arrives in .44 seconds, so the women's pitch is actually quicker.

As I'm writing this I realize I could go on a lot more, but that would make this e-mail huge, so I'll talk more about this in my next newsletter.

Tell me what you want to know

I want to help as many kids (adults) as I can. If you could help me by passing this newsletter on to your teammates or anyone you know that could use the help we're offering here, please forward this to them. Thanks in advance.

Talk to you next time.