Baseball swing vs. Slowpitch softball swing

[duckmonkey]

I'm old, I've adapted more than I should've had to...

I still hate slow-pitch!

[Omaha Red Sox]

I'm old, I've adapted more than I should've had to...

I still hate slow-pitch!

I'm only 27, so I guess I'm not old in that respect, but I'm old in the sense that I don't have time to train and prepare like I used to. I have friends on the team who also play baseball, but they have more time than I do to stay on top of their game.

[Lofunzo]

Just watch some Tim Wakefield games instead of Randy Johnson games.


I hate slow-pitch, I hate waiting for the ball to get to me just to slap it over people's heads.

Girls don't even do slow-pitch any more.

Not quite sure that I agree. 6-12' leagues are hitters leagues. Unlimited arc leagues with good pitching are unlike what you are writing about. There is some hitting but a good pitcher makes up for that. I have given up a total of 8 runs in my last 3 games.

[chadlincoln]

We had our first practice. I seem to be hitting the ball too close to my hands because I extend too much when I swing. I compacted it down and was crushing it to the fence every time with line drives. I'm still looking for more tips if anyone has any. The softball season is here...

[J35J]

Going from fastpitch to slowpitch is easy, I didn't really change a thing......going from slowpitch back to fastpitch sucks!!! I've really had to shorten up my swing going back to fastpitch.

[Omaha Red Sox]

Going from fastpitch to slowpitch is easy, I didn't really change a thing......going from slowpitch back to fastpitch sucks!!! I've really had to shorten up my swing going back to fastpitch.

It's impossible.

[Coppermine]

Wait a second... this thread was started a year ago

[chadlincoln]

Wait a second... this thread was started a year ago

I brought it back up for new tips. Softball season is back.

[Pablo975]

I found that straightening my lead arm (the one closest to the pitcher, I switchhit) and holding my arms a bit higher than my baseball swing (sort of like Craig Counsell) helped me keep a smoother swing and have less "whip" to my swing. Almost like a golfer would keep the arm straight, except held higher. It helped me adapt to slow pitch and keep a level swing. Once I was comfortable, I relaxed it a bit.

Just spend a lot of time in the cages and find what works for you. Good luck.

[mak1277]

Former baseball player too. When I first played slow pitch, I was jamming myself and hitting weak grounders on every swing.

The key for me was all about weight transfer. I think, for softball, that if you kept 100% of your weight on your back foot at all times, you wouldn't be far from wrong. That will do two things...first, it will force you to wait on the ball. I was jumping too early and shifting my weight forward, causing the groundouts. Two, keeping your weight back will natually cause a bit more uppercut in your swing, better matching the plane of the ball.