Softball Drills For Practice
There is no shortage of different drills for coaches to employ with their softball team, but here we wanted to cover two that actually encompass every aspect of the game except for batting. By implamenting just these two drills a coach can give his team a well rounded and full workout that will sharpen their fielding skills.
The A.P.B. (All Points Burst)
This drill focuses on your infielder's fielding and throwing skills, while at the same time giving your players a speed workout and base running practice.
Setup your infield with players in the First Base, Second Base, Shortstop, Third Base, and Catcher positions. Have one additional player setup as a runner on first base.
The coach will then hit a ground ball to one of the infielders, at this point the base runner should start rounding the bases for home plate.
Regardless of who the ball was hit to, it must make the rounds of the infield in this order: Third, First, Second, and Home (if the ball is hit to the right of second base then the shortstop takes the Sercond Base throw, if it's hit to the left of second then the Second Baseman takes the throw).
The goal of the infielders is to touch each base with the ball before the runner makes it around the bases and touches home plate, of course the runner's goal is dig it out to reach home before the ball gets to the Catcher.
After the ball and runner have completed their rounds, have a new player setup at first as the runner and cycle through the drill until your full team has been involved.
Be sure to swap out your infield players at some point to give them a chance as runners and other players practice in the field too.
The C.T.'s (Critical Thinking for Outfielders)
Have your outfielders form into three groups, one in left, one in center and one in right field. The coach will be hitting 3 balls to each player so the groups should form a sort of line in each position.
Each player should be given a chance to field:
1) a fly ball, which they must catch and then throw to home
2) a slow ground ball, which they should charge, snag infront of them, pivot and throw to second base
3) a hard grounder, which they should drop to one knee to block, then stand and throw in (right fielder throws to first base, left and center fielders throw to second base)
This drill practices basic fielding as well as giving them practice in making decisions "on the run" about where they're supposed to go with the ball.
Again, there are plenty of drills that a coach can add to their toolbox, these are just two which give a wide variety of fundamental skill building that can be used as a starting point.
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