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MSRoble
07-23-2006, 12:38 PM
I'm an avid softball player... would play baseball if there were any leagues available, but since there's not, I've been playing softball for MANY years..

Several years back I developed a tendency to drop my rear shoulder in mid-swing, thus causing me to pop-up. This slump spanned over 1/2 a season.. I KNEW what I was doing and just could NOT seem to avoid it. Eventually, this tendecy went away and I was hitting a ton.

Three games ago, I launched this one ball, got a triple, then my next at-bat was a nice shot up the middle about 10-12 feet over the bag. After that, this tendency has reared it's ugly head... and since then, I've only gotten like 3-4 GOOD strokes on a ball.

Anyone have tips to avoid this dipping of the shoulder? I mean, I keep hearing, "Keep your elbow up..." problem is, that's all fine and good in my stance, but once my swing starts, I see me start to dip again.

A couple times I was handcuffed by the ump as he was calling a few deep pitches for strikes, and with two strikes I was forced to swing at pitches I would normally pass on.

But there have been some nice, low, flat pitches I'd normally brutalize to anywhere in the field I want to, that I've been completely tanking on.

We start playoffs next weekend. This is absolutely the WORST time for this tendecy to creep back into the picture.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

hellborn
07-23-2006, 06:28 PM
This is a tough problem with a lot of potential causes, but I'd think about concentrating on keeping the front shoulder in early in the swing. I know that I tend to have an issue with opening up my front shoulder while I'm tracking the pitch, kind of opening the upper body up as my eyes go up, and then my back shoulder goes completely to hell when I start to bring the bat around.
Hope this helps! Good luck!

MSRoble
07-23-2006, 06:37 PM
Thanks hellborn....

I spoke to my buddy today regarding it, he, also, mentioned "keeping the back elbow up".. I told him, "yeah, I can do that, but once I start to swing, it all resorts to the bad habit again.

He also mentioned that stepping back in the box about 6" more than you normally would will help that as it'll put the ball on the arc THAT much lower as it passes you. If you're up in the box the ball will pass you about letter or belly-button high... you step back, now this ball is knee-high or thigh-high and there'll not nearly as much chance of upper-cutting it.

I sure hope it works.