Softball Hitting Tips - How to Deal with a Pitcher Who's Pounding the Outside Corner

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Most of the time when you’re  on a fastpitch softball hitting, you have to deal with covering the full strike zone. As a hitter you find a location at the plate that allows you full coverage and you stay there.

But sometimes you’ll run into a pitcher who lives on the outside corner. Sometimes it’s because they’re afraid to come inside because they fear hitting a batter. Sometimes they just realize most hitters don’t hit the outside pitch very well. Combine that with an umpire willing to give the outside corner, or maybe a little more, and it can spell a long day at the plate.

When that occurs, the best way to deal with it is to move in and crowd the plate as much as the umpire will let you. By doing so you essentially take that outside pitch that’s hard to hit and turn it into a middle pitch you can hit hard.

The accompanying photo provides a little clearer illustration of this concept. The white plate is the normal plate, the one the pitcher and the umpire are using. The multi-colored plate on top is effectively the plate you’re working with after moving in. As you can see, the outside corner has now effectively become a pitch down the middle. Anything beyond that should be far enough off the real plate that you don’t need to swing at it.

Ok, you say, but what if she comes inside? First of all, you’ve adopted this strategy because she either hasn’t or has shown she won’t come inside. If she does for some reason, get out of the way because you’re probably hanging into the strike zone. If it isn’t too far inside, turn on it quick and pound it.

Incidentally, moving more into the plate is also a good idea when a right handed hitter is facing a left handed pitcher. Most pitchers tend to throw more toward their throwing hand side, which means a lefty will throw more to the outside corner. You may not want to move in quite as far as the earlier situation, but when in doubt about the lefty give it a try.

It’s all about getting a good pitch to hit. If you’re getting killed on the outside corner, give this idea a try. It sure beats grounding out weakly to first base.

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