How Hitting a Softball Differs From Hitting a Baseball
The middle of the year allows you to watch elite collegiate baseball and softball players on a national stage. Baseball fans may wonder how softball hitters hit the ball, and vice versa. But does hitting a softball differ from hitting a baseball? Breaking down the differences only unveils how similar the games are.
The Distances Between the Pitcher and Batter
In softball, the pitcher’s circle is closer to home plate than the pitcher’s mound in baseball. In baseball, the pitcher’s mound is 60 feet and six inches away, on an elevated plane. Conversely, a softball pitching rubber is only 43 feet away, and it’s on flat ground. The reason for this disparity is the speed of the pitches: a 65-plus mph heater in softball requires the same reaction time as a 90-plus mph rocket off a baseball mound.
The key to hitting well has one thing in common in both sports: the leg kick. A hitter’s leg kick gives them the power to drive the ball over the fence, and elite softball players tend to start their leg kick in the middle of a pitcher’s windup. A leg kick isn’t required to succeed in either sport, but it will improve one’s slugging percentage.
Attacking Different Pitches
Rise Ball
Although the pitch style is completely different between the two sports, the mechanics of a hitter’s swing remain the same. Both hitters want to create a launch angle conducive to hitting home runs.
Due to the lack of a raised pitcher’s mound, there are a few softball pitches that don’t exist in baseball (and vice versa). One of these is the rise ball. The rise ball is a staple for many softball hurlers because of their underhand delivery. The purpose of the pitch is to entice hitters to swing on a ball that ends up being high out of the strike zone. However, a poorly placed rise ball is an easy pitch for a hitter to take deep, especially with the right bat. When most softball outfield fences are around 220 feet away from home plate, that’s a recipe for a home run.
Off-Speed Pitches
A pitcher’s secondary pitches, such as a rise ball in softball or a changeup in baseball, are vital to keeping the hitter off balance. The best strategy for hitting these pitches is to swing upward, because gravity will cause the ball to drift downward. Doing so gives the hitter the best chance of lifting the ball into the outfield instead of hitting a dribbler to the infield.
If there’s anything you should know about how hitting a softball differs from hitting a baseball, it’s that the fundamentals of hitting are virtually the same in both sports. Although the pitching may look vastly different, the mechanics and strategy behind the swings are identical.