I'm not Jack but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and might be able to share some insight. There are probably 2 things lacking in your daughter's swing, a working knowledge of the strike zone and confidence. How would I know that? Because many girls suffer from the same problem. It's hard to know what to do when you're unsure what the right thing is. Many reasons limit a girl from making a decision---------any decision regardless if it's right or wrong. Some girls have a fear of failure and trust in the pitcher to make the decision for them. They watch 3rd strikes go by without an attempt. Girls are sometimes reluctant to swing and give it a pitiful effort because they are unsure of themself. Others make their mind up to swing after getting 2 strikes on them. They are going to swing no matter where it is and in many cases they have their eyes closed or pull their head off the ball. After all, there's no reason to watch it because they don't know where it is or where it's going to end up. They just know they are swinging and if that ball wants hit it better be where they swing the bat! lol. I love those hitters cause you can see it in their eyes before they ever throw the pitch to them. Some are so jumpy I think if a pitcher would flinch the batter would swing. lol. Sorry for my sick sense of humor if this one strikes a nerve with you.
To overcome the chronic problems I listed and a host more, girls need to learn the strike zone. They may need a visual aid such as a square box made from PVC tubing that you can make and hold up to her while standing at the plate. Give her a good visual reference to think about as the strike zone is absolutely huge in real life and not just a belt high pitch over the center of the plate. Next encourage her during hitting practice to hit everything--------and I mean everything that's thrown to her. Make her go after balls over her head and balls in the dirt, even balls she may need to take a step or 2 to get to. notice when you make her do this she will immediately begin to track the ball with her eyes. She's got to be able to see it to follow it. have fun with it. Make her feel secure that it's okay to go after the ball. Have your giggles and laughs. Make her want to hit the ball. Feed off the excitement and encourage her to do more of the same and swing hard to hit it. Point out after a few successes that the balls she hits very well are probably the ones that are actually in the strike zone. Let her build her own level of confidence kinowing she can hit anything when she tries, she simply hits the strike pitches better. Now introduce the strike zone made from PVC and show her where a lot of those pitches could be for the umpire and give her that visual she'll need to bring all this full circle in her head. the more you do this the better she'll get at knowing she can protect herself from the 3rd strike as well as hit those pitches that are in the zone. With confidence will come her hitting the ball better in general. Not just making contact to protect but hitting good pitches hard into play before she ever gets 2 strikes behind in the pitch count. She won't be striking out at all if she's putting the ball in play before the count gets her in trouble.
Girls need to know it's okay to fail if you give it a good effort. Hitters need to take control of their own destiny and make a good effort to hit the first good strike pitch they see. One of the worst things you can do as a coach is tell a kid to stand there and watch a perfect pitch go by with the notorious "Wait and see one before you swing." When you have a kid struggling with hitting I'm not sure there is anything you can do that's could ever hurt her more.
Practice practice practice. Practice the right way. Then, encourage her to take the "I can hit anything any time" attitude and put it into her at bats in a game. Be sure the coaches know and stand behind her-------even if she fails. She needs to know her support is still there as long as she's trying to fix it. Don't bruise the ego and she'll catch up to the other kids with her will to succeed.
