Softball Hitting Tips – Dealing with Two Strikes by Marc-Olivier Dagenais

Softball Hitting Tips – Dealing with Two Strikes
by: Marc-Olivier Dagenais

If you’re down with two strikes, it’s easy to get nervous because you suddenly find yourself in a tough position. Another strike would mean you’re out.

But don’t let that thought get into you. Always remember that since you are batting, you are in an offensive position, not a defensive one. With that thought, you should therefore act accordingly.

Here are some of my softball hitting tips for you if you’re faced with a two-strike situation.

If you’re going down, go down fighting. You’ve probably heard of this line before in various situations: in boxing matches, war movies, etc. And the message is clear: while you can keep on fighting, go on with it even if the odds are stacked against you.

The same thing works in softball when you already have two strikes and no chance of getting a walk. Since you’re in the situation anyway, you should go full swing when you hit the ball and not settle with a half swing.

Why is this? That’s because a full swing has more chances of making something happen for your team. A harder swing will of course get the ball further than a half swing.

An exception of course would be if you want to voluntarily foul it off, which is one strategy taken by elite players.

Adjust your game accordingly. If you’re going with the full swing, you could increase your chance of success by adjusting your game accordingly. For example, if you’re dealing with a fast pitcher, you could position yourself a little further from the mound the give you more time to react to the pitch.

You could also move closer to the pitcher to reduce the effectiveness of breaking pitches. Again, it’s about adjusting your game.

Another adjustment you can make is to open your stance up a little. This will enable you see and track the ball much easier. Doing so would also increase your accuracy when hitting the ball.

Then there’s protecting the outside corner. The pitcher may try to deceive you into hitting an outside pitch. With that in mind, you should move closer to the plate to avoid that situation. Of course that will make you vulnerable to other strategies that the pitcher may employ so calculate your risks in this case.

When adjusting your game, it pays to be able to detect patterns in the way the pitcher throws the ball and her selection of pitches. Only then can you really adjust your game and be sure that your strategy will work against the pitcher.

So let me sum it up for you again. When you are dealing with two-strike situations, the first thing you must remember is that you are in an offensive position so you must make something happen. You can do this by hitting the ball with a full swing to get the ball further out of the field.

Also, you must learn how to adjust your game accordingly based on the patterns you detect from the pitcher. Your ability to detect patterns will help you read what the pitcher’s most likely move would be and help you position yourself, and hit the ball with greater accuracy and power.