The Lady Argonauts and their coach seem to like and respect each other—despite this
batter's attempt to keep Coach Cyr on her toes. (She got out of the way.)

Short, compact swings can still generate power—the batter's reaction time is about the same as in baseball.  I once saw major leaguer Jimmy Wynn in an exhibition with a good softball pitcher.  She used the softball pitching distance and a regulation softball.  He managed one foul ball in several attempts.

I'll try to post some whole sequences of a pitcher's delivery. These stop action shots are deceiving—the pitcher
is usually quite acrobatic and the ball is much harder to hit than it looks.

Note the release point of this pitch.  Some consider the underhand motion to be more natural. 
The velocity can be amazing and pitchers can impart some real movement on breaking balls.