Once the pitcher has the confidence that the ball will be hit, fine tuning is the next step. Distance and airtime give the hitter more time to reach the base. One important maxim to always keep in mind is if you are going to miss with the pitch, miss high. The middle and top half of the bat give distance and air. If the hitter is neither a fast runner nor a power hitter, try to place the ball down the baselines.
Several factors come into play to give the hitter the advantage.
There is a fifty- fifty chance that the base closest to the ball will be activated, which makes the fielder have to field the ball with the base buzzing and the noise of the runner close by. Of course, when the offensive team is really clicking, slight adjustments of pitch-speed and hitter's stance place the ball in the weakest part of the defense. If the pitcher or hitter start experiencing trouble, and everything starts getting a little ragged, regroup and get back to basics. Remember, all good pitchers have outstanding games where everything seems to come easy and natural. The beauty of baseball is that each team gets the same number of outs.