How to Hit a Homerun in Softball

To most hitting authorities, getting "full extension of the arms" and "how to hit a homerun in softball" appear to be synonymous. Invariably, when a long homerun is hit during a softball game, the commentator will say: "Wow, she really got her arms extended on that one." Linear hitting coaches also teach swing mechanics that rely on the extension of the arms. However, rotational coaches disagree. They believe homerun power comes from mechanics that keep the hands back and allow body rotation to swing the hands.

Batting Drills for Homerun Power

As pointed out above, batting coaches have varying opinions on the batting drills that generate homerun power. So what batting drills should a batter choose to maximize their chance of hitting a homerun? When in doubt, I suggest relying on the mechanics exhibited in the swings of the games top homerun hitters. With that in mind, Batspeed.com performed a frame-by-frame analysis of softball's top homerun hitters' mechanics.

The video below shows the swings of the homerun hitters we used in the analysis. These great hitters not only hit with power, they also had some of the highest batting averages.

What is common amongst softball's top homerun hitters:

1. The forward movement of the body stopped at heel plant and the batter begins rotating around a stationary axis;
2. The bend in the batter's lead-elbow remains constant during rotation to contact;
3. The back-elbow remained back at their side in an "L" position at contact;
4. The hands were rotated into a circular path; and
5. The arms did not extend until after contact (the ball had left the bat).