Softball Duck Duck Goose
The game is played the same way as the children’s game except they have to slide into their spot and call “time out” before they can sit upright.

If they get caught then they go into the center and talk up a good game to the girls, cheering them on as they run, (and they do get loud).

This gets their speed up, sliding into the bases and cheering your team on as well as communication.

I do this about once every 5 or 6 practices and they love it.

Softball Coaching Tip:
A good fundamental drill that we use for kids who are afraid of the ball is to take their legs away.

We put the players on their knees and hit them softballs.  They can’t get out of the way,  so they are forced to keep their head down.  We do this for several reps and then give them their legs back.  This has worked at every age.

Zig-Zag Drill
Set-Up:
Set three cones out that if connected with a line, it would form the letter Z.  You should vary the distance between and distance from start based on age of your players.
Drill:

• We have each player run towards each cone looking for the ball, not knowing if it will be a ground or fly ball.
• We vary where we place the ball (high, low, front or back, etc.) to ensure they are tracking the ball and reacting accordingly.
• Once caught, or retrieved, they have to have square up, get a good base and make a good throw back to the coach.
• Once caught and thrown, they must quickly change direction and work towards the next cone.
• We start working towards the closest cone and typically end with a big fly ball at cone #3.

Goals
Improve footwork / lateral movement.
Improve reaction and tracking.
Improve agility with quick starts and stops.
Improve the transition from running, fielding and throwing.
Improve throwing in game like conditions – find, field and throw.

Warm Up Plan
Two players lead the stretching, normal types of stretches.  Next they start on one knee and are about 10 yards apart. They throw about 10 each from this position.

Next they take 5 big steps back and stand for the next 10 throws each.  They continue this one more time before they take the big 15 steps back for a nice easy 5 “long toss” each.  This is our warm up.

Fielding Footwork Drill/Conditioning
Groups of 3, one in the middle and one on each side facing the player in the middle.  They only need about 5 feet in between them.

The player on one side will roll a ball to the player in the middle and he/she reacts to it (concentrating on extending their gloves and staying low).

The player catches the ball using the correct techniques and underhands it back to the throwing player.  The player on the other side does the same thing causing the middle player to move quickly and react to a ball that may not be exactly where they’d expect it.

The three players continue this drill until the middle player has done 20 to each player, this is a very fast paced drill.

VARIATION:  Another way to do this drill or another variation would be for the middle player to shuffle back and forth in front of two other players still rolling the ball forward and the player using the proper technique and tossing it back to the throwing player.

These drills allow players to see other players closely and help correct any errors in their work.  Also, make it a competition, two teams against each other or even a tournament!  Great stuff!

The Last Man Standing OR The Buckner Drill
The drill works like this:
Place 2 cones 10-12 feet apart.
The players all get in a line.
The first player is up (no gloves) creeps and gets down and the coach who is 40-60 feet away, fires one grounder after another to the player (total of 5).

The player has to field cleanly (she just tosses the ball to the side) nothing gets by, no ball between the legs (hence Buckner).

If she makes five, she goes to end of the line, if she misses she is out.

All of this continues until there is just one man left standing. It’s fun, the players love it AND it does help!

Softball Batting Practice Drill
1.  Grip: Players must be able to grip the bat properly. The bat grip resembles that of an axe.

2.  The bat must be held across the base of the fingers.

3.  Light pressure on bat is a must, as pressure will increase as contact is made.

4.  The middle knuckles of the top hand align between the middle and last knuckles of the bottom of hand.

5.  Proper stance – The first to a great swing is one’s stance. It must be stressed to the players that the stance should be what is comfortable, and not what looks best.

6.  Ready Position or Batting stance as follows: At the batters’ box step into it and do a pre-swing routine. Separate feet at shoulder width. Feet must be paralleled with toes aligned parallel to inside edge of home plate.  Bat must be held over shoulder at 45* angle to horizontal.  Bend top half of body forward from waist to bring weight onto both feet and then flex knees slightly.

Certainly, the knees must be flexed with the weight centered on the inside of the feet. The knees will slightly bend in towards each other, actually knock-kneed where balance is the primary objective.  The batter then should have a clear mind and focus on seeing the pitch from the release point into the hitting zone.

Swinging within the strike zone and watching the bat hit the ball is a must.  Once the swing is mechanically sound, the batter needs to master the mental aspects of hitting where fixing his attention hitting becomes mighty important.

7.  Aggressive hitting must be encouraged on the principle that every pitch is going to be a strike down the middle and contact has to be made with the ball, where the only decision the batter has to make is not to swing at a ball outside the strike zone.

End of Practice Fun Drill
Line up half the team down the first base line (between home plate and 1st base) and the other half line up between 3rd base and 2nd base.
The team on the first baseline has a ball.
They throw a grounder towards the other team.
If the ball gets past one of the players the person closest to the ball is out.
Then the team between 3rd and 2nd throw a ball towards the team at the first baseline.
If the ball gets past them then the person closest to the ball is out.
If the team stops the ball from going past them then know one is out.

Keep playing until there is one player left and they are the winner.
Variation- if the player does not field the ball cleanly they are out

Baserunning Drill for Youth  
Place coach at 1st and 3rd. Have runners start at home plate – coach tells player to “round and look” or “run through.”

If they “round and look” then he sends them or yells “get back.” Player must look for 3rd base coach 2/3 way to second base to get direction on coming to 3rd or staying at 2nd.
We even throw in a “get back” simulating a caught pop fly situation.  Practicing this has really helped the girls baserunning in the games.

Catching Drill for Outfielders
Basically you can do this drill a couple of ways.
Put your first girl in left field position and the rest of girls on left field foul line. Have coach with bucket of balls halfway between pitcher’s mound and home plate.
Say “go” and first girl does crossover step heading for left center.
Coach throws ball in gap and girl runs, CALLS IT, catches it then drops it down and keeps on running to center.

Coach throws ball to center, then keeps running to right and catches ball in right, all the while never stopping from left to right.
Next she stays on right field line, then the next girl comes up to left field position and she does the drill.

Once all girls are done from the left they come back the opposite way.

This is a great drill for chasing balls in the gap, and endurance. My girls love this drill!!

VARIATION: You can mix it up by having three people throwing ball to girls and they go one right after another.

Fly Ball Pop-Up Drill
We begin with one ball and the kids run away from where I am standing.  I throw a pop up or fly ball that they have to run underneath and catch.
It teaches them that they can often reach balls that they wouldn’t normally believe they could reach.
After they go through the drill a few times, we add a ball.

This time they run straight out and catch the fly ball, but then they turn toward their glove side and sprint across the field where I throw another ball they have to catch running sideways.

This drill can even add a third ball.  After they catch the second ball, they drop one of them and sprint out away from me again, and I hit them with a Hail Mary they have to position themselves under.

It is great for confidence in going after popups/flyballs and it also is a great conditioning drill.  They don’t even realize it is conditioning because it is so much fun.

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.

Gloveless Fielding Drill
4 positions (1st, 2nd, S.Stop, and 3rd)
1 coach on the infield grass facing 3rd and short, 1 coach on the infield grass facing 1st and 2nd. The players do not use their gloves for the first half of this drill.

The coach will throw ground balls to the fielders and they must field them without their gloves. This forces them into proper position because without their gloves its actually harder to “side scoop” or “sweep” the ball. It also forces them to use two hands to clamp down on the ball.

First we start out with moderately paced grounders straight at the players and gradually increase the speed and move the ball to both sides to get them to move their feet into proper fielding position.

After we have gone through several times with hard grounders to both sides then we allow them to put on their gloves and we go through it again several times.

Then the coaches back off and use a bat to hit the grounders. This progression should help get the players to think about the correct position when approaching the ball.