Here are 6 steps every great hitter uses.

	Step 1-Your grip. You should line your middle knuckles up and hold the bat at the the skinny end of the bat.
	Step 2-Your distance from the plate. Take the end of the barrel of the bat (while holding the skinny end with your hands in the grip described in step 1) and put it on the inside corner of the plate.
	Step 3-How to put your feet. Put your back foot in first , straight or slightly turned in , even with your back shoulder . Then put your front foot in even with you other shoulder. Put sixty percent of your weight on your back foot and forty percent of your weight on your front foot.
	Step 4-Put your hands in a fighting position. If you're going to punch someone, what are you going to do with your hand and arm? You are going to draw your arm back. That's what you do in this step. You draw your back hand back and bring your bottom hand back underneath holding the bat with all of the other steps still on. This is your most powerful position.
	Step 5- Get the mugger off of your back. What is your first reflex if someone comes up behind you and grabs you? It should be to throw your elbow back into their stomach. That's what you do in this step. To start your swing off, you drop your front elbow back which should create a good , short swing. Follow through with the belly button theory. The belly button theory is that the knob of the bat is an extension of the belly button. When you connect with the ball and the bat, you are trying to swing down and hit the top half of the ball which creates a line drive or ground ball. I know you're thinking that a ground ball isn't any good, but mostly every ball player is going to miss a ground ball before they miss a fly-ball or pop-up. So, you will get on base more than you would with ground balls rather than balls hit up into the air.
	Step 6-You gotta believe. You can't go up to the plate thinking you are going to strikeout, or what are you going to do? Strikeout! So, you have to get up to plate knowing that you are going to get a hit.

           I am not saying that you will get a hit every time you get up to hit if you use these steps. I am saying that you will become a better hitter when you bat. Also, these steps aren't easy to accomplish, but if you keep working on them and develop them well, you will be a very tough out.

	Step 1- Righties on right and lefties on left side of the mound.
	Step 2- Take a small step back.
	Step 3- Fire in the hole. (position your foot sideways on the edge of the front of the mound.)
	Step 4- Knee to nose. (lift your leg up as shown at the left.)
	Step 5- Thumb to thy, ball to the sky. (bring your hand out of your glove with the ball in it, touch your leg with your thumb, and put the ball up in the air facing back behind you.)
	Step 6- Step forward with your front leg. (steps 5 and 6 are with your leg still in the air.)
	Step 7- Pull down the curtains. (throw the ball and bring your arm down almost to the ground.)
	Step 8- Leg over the wall. (complete the windup by bringing your leg even with the rest of your body by moving it forward in an ark.)

       Does anyone know what  a strike is? It is whatever the ump says it is. It doesn't matter how much you think a pitch is a strike.  If the ump doesn't agree, it's a ball. Please don't argue with the ump if you are pitching, batting, or fielding. That just shows bad sportsman ship.