Hitting a low pitch in the strike zone is similar to driving a golf ball. Most likely, your coach discourages chasing low pitches and, at the same time, encourages his pitchers to keep the ball low. Once you learn the low swing, the hardest thing is laying off low-outside pitches. Even if you make contact, the barrel of the bat is too far from your body to generate power. You can hit low softball pitches for distance by learning a particular swing and correctly rolling your hands at the moment of contact.
Step 1
Stand a hitting tee on the front edge of home plate and put a softball on the tee. Adjust the height of the tee so the ball is halfway between your knees and shoe tops. Take your hitting stance at the plate with a bat in hand.
Step 2
Visualize an inside-out path of the bat from a point that’s 12 inches in front of your back foot to the opposite corner at the front of home plate. You goal is to swing on this inside-out path and roll your top hand forward at the moment of contact.
Step 3
Start your swing by dropping your back shoulder as you trigger the barrel of the bat down toward the point in front of your back foot. Swing hard and roll your top hand forward at the moment of contact. Follow through toward the opposite corner of home plate.
Step 4
Observe the flight of the softball. If it popped up, you dropped your back shoulder too far, casing you to hit under the ball. A ground ball indicates you rolled your top hand too early, which raised the barrel of the bat at contact.
Step 5
Continue to practice your inside-out swing while hitting off the low tee. Attempt to hit the softball just below center to generate lift and spin that’s essential to distance. Move the tee near the inside edge of home plate and hit several balls to determine whether this is a location you might look for during games.
Things You'll Need
- Hitting tee
- Softballs
- Bat
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