Relay Drill
Line up from one of the lines with three girls stretched out across the diamond about 50 -75 feet apart.

Make throws like a relay from outfield.
Have three or four groups go at once, to make it a race.
Make sure girls make good throws and pivot the proper way to make next throw.

This drill speeds up cut offs and turning the proper way as well as the speed it is done, while making it fun for the girls.

To throw a twist onto the drill make the last place team do 5 pushups, to push them a little harder.

Tag Out Drill
This is a drill targetted to get the players to throw the ball to the proper location for a tag out – NOT a force out.

Set up a 55 gallon trash can (laid down horizontally with the mouth open to the players) at 3rd base and home.

Infielders will throw the ball from their position into the mouth of the can.

This is practiced with infield and outfielders. (Outfielders may hit the cutoff man and then she turns and throws into the can).

This gets the throwers throwing the ball in the correct vicinity for the player to quickly apply the tag.

Stealing Base Challenge
You need everyone but a 3rd baseman.  Put a runner on first.

The game goes like this:
The defense gets a point if they can throw out the runner.
The runners get 2 points if they can steal the base.
The pitcher tries to keep the runner at first, (working on his pick off move).
The runner tries to get an aggressive lead to steal the base.
The pitcher has to try to pick off, while still throwing strikes to the catcher.
But the runner has to try to steal second on the throw home (you have 4 or 5 runners) and 2 -3 catchers so arms won’t get to sore.

Thhe challenge begins. Everyone gets a great challenge and a workout. Try it; it works great and will make runners more aggressive when you want to steal bases.

Double Play Drill
I used a pitching machine and set it up to throw pop flies; the beauty of this is that it will throw the pop fly in the same spot time after time.  I usually use it to practice pop flies in the outfield but adjusted the spring down a few notches so that it would only throw it to the infield.

I had the machine set up at home plate, had a station of girls playing short stop, a station of girls at first base and 2 runners between 1st and 2nd  to simulate a girl on first taking a big lead off.  The idea was that once the short stop catches the ball the runner, halfway between 1st and 2nd has to turn and get back to first and beat the throw.
Now we missed about 6 infield pop ups during the game and each time there was a runner on 1st.  When you were done playing first you became the runner, when you were done running you then went to SS, when you were done playing SS you went to 1st base.

After an hour of this practice my girls were all catching that routine infield pop fly, shifting their feet towards 1st making a great transfer of the ball from mitt to throwing hand and firing hard to 1st and turning double plays like pro’s.

It was simply showing them what they needed to do and then the repetitive motion of doing it over and over.  When practice was over they were upset as they were having so much fun.

My girls all had a blast and loved the practice.  It was new and they had fun learning something new and something that beat us the last game.  I feel confident that with practice a few more times, they will never blow an infield pop fly and possible double play.

LEAD SHOULDER & HIP DRILL

• Position fielder at S.
• Have 3 markers 3′ or so apart on an angle towards 1st to the left of the fielder.
• Have the same set up to the right of the fielder as well.
• Roll the ball to the fielders left side.
• Fielder fields ball in deep short and aligns lead shoulder and hips towards 1st.
• Begin crow hop/shuffle step at cone 1, release ball at cone 2, follow thru to cone 3.
• Runner jogs back to position & repeat for right side.

Coach emphasizes the importance of rounding the ball on the right side to get on a proper throwing path towards 1st.
Variations:  Slide Stepping rt. & lt. side, Crossover Steps rt. & lt. side, Backhand rt. side.

This drill can also can be utilized for 2nd throwing to 3rd or SS and 2nd throwing home.

I teach my girls to use their gloves as a “broom” and “sweep” the ball into their bare hand with their closed glove. This ensures that they will grip the ball cleanly to be able to throw, instead of having to bare hand the ball or waste time using the glove’s pocket.

Two In One Drill
Line three balls up approximately 5 feet away from each other.
Girls have a partner.
One starts at one end line and sprints to the first ball, gets her butt/shoulders around BEFORE touching the ball, sweeps the ball into her glove, and throws it back to the partner.
She sprints back to touch the end line, then sprints to the second ball and follows the same routine.

I generally use a timer and give the girls a goal time to meet. Sometimes I’ll work groups of three and have the off person do push-ups or “hover” (working the abs) until the partner finishes fielding.

Softball Fielding Drill
Set up:
Place 5 balls in a spot along the third base line, making 3 more piles of 5 balls about 12’ apart.
Station 1 cone approximately 15’ across from the pile of balls. (4 piles of balls-4  cones)

Have 1 girl kneel behind each pile of balls. (they will be the rollers)
Have 2 girls stand behind cones. (they will be the retrievers)
Remainder of girls form a line either on right or left side of cone with their glove.

• Line of girls will assume a fielding position.
• On coaches’ start they will shuffle in front of cones (one at a time) with glove, as the roller rolls a ball at them to be fielded and rolled back to same person who rolled it.
• The second girl takes off when the first girl gets to the third person in line. This way the girls don’t bunch up in the middle and the line moves swiftly.
• Remainder of girls not rolling or retrieving go thru the drill with their gloves and complete the drill.
• When the first girl reaches the end of the line she hustles back to beginning of drill and repeats the same process 3 times total.

Responsibilities of the retrievers are to make sure the rollers have softballs in front of them to roll.
At the end of third time thru the players exchange positions and repeat drill. Should be done 3 times from one side.

Repeat the same drill from the other side once everyone has gone thru 3 times. (allows for left and right lateral movement)

Purpose of drill:
1. Increase Cardio
2. Shuffling reminds the girls to stay in 3 point stand when fielding balls
3. Look the ball into glove, tucking chin to chest for proper form
4. Getting ball out of glove quickly with the other hand as they roll it back
5. Proper lateral movement for infielders ( showing them not to stand and move laterally)
6. Coach can watch, correct, instruct on proper shuffling, fielding, etc

Suggestions/Extensions:
Coach can first do the drill with no gloves, bare handed (3 times)
2nd time with glove ( 3 times)
3rd  time fielding with glove and not using the none glove hand to roll back (field with glove, roll with glove)  more advanced (3 times)

One Minute Drill
Put on object on a traffic cone–(you can use a stuffed animal, a softball, a nerf ball-depending on the age you are working with and the level of accuracy you expect).

We run two groups at the same time. Have the cone near a padded wall.

You need a timer, one person throwing, one near the cone to put the object back on when it’s knocked off, a feeder (to the thrower) and at least one or two fielders.

The feeder rolls the ball to the thrower who fields the ball and throws it at the target on the traffic cone.  If it gets knocked off it gets replaced quickly.  Fielders retrieve the balls that have bounced off the wall and get them to the feeder.  (It’s quite a busy minute).

Either the thrower or the feeder keep count of how many the thrower actually knocks off the traffic cone.   It doesn’t count if it hits the wall first, then the cone or the objecct.

At first we count it when the thrown ball hits the cone (not necessarily the object is hit).  As we progress in this drill our expectations increase and the rules change (i.e.-hitting the cone doesn’t count-you have to hit the object directly).

The person timing can be the judge.

The girl with the most “points” gets a prize or gets out of a running sprints. The girls love this drill.  Iit really makes them focus on accuracy and throwing for one minute straight and is quite the workout!

Infield Warm-Up Drill (All ages)
Setup– a regular infield, all infield positions manned.
No runner is needed.

How this drill works:
In this exercise, the catcher throws to third, third throws to first, first throws to catcher.

The catcher then throws a short hard grounder to the shortstop to simulate a hit, shortstop throws to first, first throws to catcher.

The catcher throws to second, second throws to first, first throws to catcher.

Last but not least, the coach throws a grounder to simulate a bunt. Depending where it goes the pitcher and catcher should call it appropriately and make a throw to first.

The purpose of this exercise is to get the players to practice their most common infield throw. With young players, it will help the coach assess his players for their ability to throw with accuracy the needed distances of the infield.

You can rotate your players around to find the right match of player to position. This is typically a 15-30
minute exercise. Once you have your players warmed up, you add runners to the mix and work on strategy.

Rapid Fire Infield Drill

• Infielders are at all positions with a catcher on each side of me.
• Hit the ball to short, who throws to 1st then home.
• Hit to 2B who throws to 3B who throws home.
• Hit to 3B who throws to 1B who throws home.
• Hit to 1B who throws to 3B who throws home.

This is done in rapid fire sequence emphasizing fielding/throwing/footwork.  As the drill goes on you can vary where everyone throws to and work on DP, etc.
I make sure fielding position is correct and any bad throws cost the player a foul pole.

Bare Hand Infield
I take the entire infield, except the catcher, and throw them ground balls to catch with their bare hands.

Once they field the ball they take their glove hand and throwing hand to their throwing side ear.

It has really worked well in getting the players to keep their gloves on the ground and not raise up too early and they have the ball up and ready to throw very quickly.

Hot Box
Since this is an indoor drill, we use the lines of a full sized basketball court to designate boundaries.

•    The team is lined up along the baseline facing midcourt.
•    Only one player is on the baseline in what would be the “key” of the basketball court.
•    I hit the ball (an Incrediball) from the midcourt line as hard as I can directly at the player in the key.  I must hit the ball somewhere in the key in order for it to count.  It can be a line drive or a grounder.
•     If the player misses, everyone simultaneously runs to the other end of the basketball court.  Then the next player goes.
•     Each player must field the ball and throw it to my assistant coach or another player who is standing next to me.
•     Players keep taking turns fielding the ball.  We make it a “winner stays in” game and the last player in is the ultimate winner and she does not have to run an extra lap.

Even if a player misses and is out, she must run with the rest of the team during the game.

I use this with my varsity team, since they love competitive games.  You can add a variety of variations to the game set-up as you wish.