Softball Practice Drills
Bored
with your teams practice? Tired of just batting practice? Here's a few
tips & drills for the slow-pitch softball players to work on during
practice. One important tip, the more players that show up, the better
the practice. You want to have more than hitting and throwing the ball
around. Let's get started. But first off. Don't forget to WARM UP and then
start your practice drills.
Have a player take the outfielders to the outfield and hit fly balls to them, we all do this don't we? Make sure and back each other up while doing this, and keep the throws down. Remember to hit balls on the ground, and don't always hit the ball right to the fielders, work'em out. While their doing this, the infielders are working out also. Now for the infield work out.
Not everyone knows how to hit infield, so make sure you have a player that can, it's important. Players all in their positions and ready. Start out with a couple of balls hit to third, then the shortstop, over to second and then hit a couple balls over to first and have him throw over to third base. Then work on the DP ball, again going around the infield a couple more times, and work it from there.
Get the outfielders and infielders in their positions. I start out left to right, but do it anyway you like. Hit the ball to the leftfielder and have him throw to second base, then do it again and throws go to third base. Go around the whole outfield doing this and don't forget about using the cutoff man to help out. Line up the throws and this also keeps all players in the game. Remember how you practice, is how you play. Then hit around the infield again a couple of times. Let's go back to the outfield for the finish. We're almost done. Going left to right, hit the ball to all the outfielders and have them hit the cutoff man. Then bring it home for the last throws. Now it's time for some BP.
If you have enough players, use two hitters and take 5-6 good swings each. Then switch and do this a couple more times. This can speed things up and no one swings theirselfs to death. Then bring in other players to hit. Depending on how many players you have at practice, will decide on how many swings you get. Some like more and some don't. It all depends on you.
Here's some more drills you can use before or after BP. We call this soft toss. Have one player toss up balls in front of the fence or backstop to a hitter. It helps to be in a catchers position or down on his knees. Toss from the side he isn't swinging on or you'll get hit in the head. Very important. This should be done easy, remember this is soft toss and the hitter hits the ball into the fence standing only a few feet from where he hits. You're not trying to kill the ball, just meet the ball and work on the swing.
Have one player hit the ball to some fielders, this includes all fielders. Use 3-5 fielders at a time and go left to right or right to left. Keep doing it the same way one at a time. This helps with injuries and you don't want anyone getting hurt in practice! Who ever gets the ball, have them throw it back to the hitter and that way you can hit the thrown ball to the next fielder. You're hitting the ball on the ground and not taking full swings either. This will help both the hands and eyes to work together, so pay attention and keep your glove ready. This takes some work to get it right, but it's a good work out. Remember always start out slow and then you can speed things up some. Using the backstop area is a good safe place to do this drill, again your not hitting the ball hard this is practice. Remember you got to have something left for the game!
Any practice is better than no practice at all. These drills are just a few ideas on what you can work on for a good work out. You need someone who can hit outfield and another to hit infield. Not everyone can do this, so it's important to get the players that can. If not it can be a long workout. Once you go through these drills a few times, more idea's will come to you.
The Basics - Batting Tips - Play Defense - Managers Tips - Practice Drills - Base Coaching - Lineup Ideas
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