From Nicole…
Here are 2 of my girls favorite softball drills to do.

The first one we call The Box.

Put 4 cones into a square shape.  The harder you want the softball drill the larger the square. Two girls go inside and their job is to not let a ball hit the ground. The softball coach throws low pop-ups all over the circle and girls have to catch them. The better they get, the faster you throw the balls. We usually do a competition and whichever team can catch the most before they let one hit wins. It really helped my team to be able to call the ball and talk to each other- plus it got them to dive for the softball.

The second one we do with a very soft ball. You can either have a coach hit, or the girls find it more fun when they get to hit. The coach hits a ball as hard as they can at the fielder from about 40 ft away, and make the fielder react(use a soft ball). We always start with hitting it right at the player, and as they get better hit it harder and then to either side so they have to step and grab. It also helps if you have a player hitting the ball they learn a lot of bat control.

Hope maybe these are a little different and can be useful.

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From Wes…
I have a softball drill I use indoors when we can’t get outside.  It is designed to help my first basemen learn to squeeze and give when catching the throw to first base.

We use tennis balls.  A softball player (usually my second basemen or shortstop) receives a bounced ball from a teammate, simulates a force out at second, then throws it the length of the gym to the first baseman.  The first baseman steps to the ball and catches it with her bare hand.  She must squeeze the ball as she catches it and give with the catch or the ball with bounce off her hand.

This helps the first baseman and the middle infielders who are working on their footwork and how to throw around second base.

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From Heather…
I am coaching a 9 and 10 year old softball team and am new to the coaching bit although I have played softball for many years.  Here is a softball drill that I am teaching girls that are just learning:

Set up the 6 infield players at their designated infield positions.  Since I have a fairly new pitcher, allow her to pitch 3 balls to a batter.  The remainder of the girls are also batters standing on the side.

Have one of the softball coaches stand near the batter ready to bat the ball if the batter does not get a hit after three pitches.  Have another coach on the field directing the infield player as to the play.  Have two base coaches one at first and one at third to work with the batters on running during the session.

Start with the first batter and the infield ready for a play to first.  The batter gets three pitches, if after the first pitch they do not get a hit then the coach hits a random ball.  The infield has to field the ball, the batter runs to first when the ball gets hit by the coach and a play is made.  If the infielders do not get the runner out then let the runner stay on first.  The infield coach works with the girls on infield plays, the base coaches work with the runners, and the next batter gets up to bat.  Keep repeating the activity.

We go for about 25 minutes with this because we are teaching softball playing strategy for plays and also base running.  Plus the girls get a chance to bat.  Once the 25 minutes of this group has batted then swap positions and let the batters become the infield and the infield go to bat.  This works well because everyone gets to learn an infield position but the drawback is somebody on the team may be put in a position that you really are not intending them to play but they are learning.  This usually happens at third base because at this age it is hard to find a strong person to be able to throw that far to first.  Anyway, I think it works well and you try question the girls to get them to think with each batter coming up to bat.

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From Jeff…
Here’s a softball drill for the 10u that I do.

Two coaches.  One on the left side of home plate.  The other on the right side of home plate.

Two lines of players.  One line at shortstop.  One line at second.

A girl stands ready at the base (second).  A girl stand ready at first base.

The softball coaches hit grounders to their respective lines.

Girls field the balls.  The shortstop throws the softball to second.  Girl at second catches it.  Girl at second goes to end of line.  The girl who just fielded the ball goes to the base.  Repeat numerous times.

The same thing happens for the girls at second.  A girl throws the ball to first.  The first base girl catches it.  That girl goes to end of line.  The girl who fielded the ball goes to first base.  Repeat numerous times.

It may sound like an obvious drill.  But, in 10u, these are the most common plays made in the field during games.  Repetition of those basic softball plays during practice is key.

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From David…
Here’s my girls’ favorite softball drill:

You split your team into 3 equal groups:  one at 3rd base with their gloves, one at 2nd base with their gloves and one group at home plate with their helmets on.

You place 3 softballs on the 3rd base line about 5 feet towards home plate.
On my “go”, the runner starts running and tries to make it to 2nd base before the player on 3rd can pick up the balls, one at a time, and successfully throw them to the player on 2nd.  If the runner gets to second before the player on second base catches all three balls while touching the bag then the team at home plate gets a point.

You then rotate the players until all the runners have had a chance and then you rotate teams until one team gets to 10 or 15 or however long the girls want to play.

I run this drill at the end of softball practice and they always leave with a good feeling.

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From Don…
This is not a softball drill as much as a game that our team plays at the end of softball practice. The girls love it and it serves as a very good practice drill for fielding grounders.

We call it ” king of the hill“.

We have an indoor facility where the nonbatting cage portion of the facility is a little larger than the size of an infield. We split the girls into two groups and have one group on each end of the facility going widthwise.

We puts cones out as the outside barriers and put another cone in the middle of the facility. We then play an elimination game where a player is eliminated from the game whenever they miss a grounder. We encourage the girls to throw the softballs to one another as hard as possible but it must bounce before the middle cone to be fair. A player is also eliminated when the throw is “out of bounds”. As players get eliminated there is more ground to cover for the remaining players. We start out 5 on 5 and usually wind up 2 or 3 on 1. We try to be fair as to how much ground one player is expected to cover as to where we allow the ball to be thrown to.

This game teaches teamwork as well as going to both the forehand and the backhand as the girls will cheer for their teammates after they are eliminated. we usually play 2 out of 3 to determine the winning team and let everybody play as much as possible each time

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From Wendy…
Softball Drill idea:

I like to reward my athletes after a strenuous indoor softball practice so I have come up with a “game” that they love to play.

Things you will need:
2 chairs
2 helmets
lots of softballs

1.  Place the chairs at the end of the gym on the basketball end line about 20 feet apart.
2.  On the seat of each chair, place a helmet.
3.  Two lines form at center court line facing the chairs.
4.  The first person in the line will throw the ball at the helmet and try to hit the helmet off the chair.
5.  That girl will chase her ball (and pick up the helmet if she hits it) and go to the back of the line.
6.  If the helmet falls completely off the chair, that team gets two points.
7.  If the ball hits the helmet but doesn’t fall to the floor, that team gets one point.
8.  Zero points are awarded if the ball misses the helmet completely.
9.  The first team to 10 (or 15 or 20) wins.
10.  The losing team has to do extra laps, sprints, or push-ups.

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From Rick…
Here is a softball drill that I created recently…….

Drill name: 2-Man Juggling
Skill Emphasis:
1. works on quick transfer of ball from glove to throwing hand AND
2. quick toss to a relatively close target AND
3. quick reaction in catching off target throws.

Fun Emphasis: kids love competitions which this can be by counting catches.

Drill goes like this:
Two players with gloves pair up and stand 10-15 feet apart depending on the ages.  Each player has a softball also.  At the same time, each player tosses the ball to his/her partner.  As soon as the ball is released, the player needs to locate the ball that was just thrown.  The player makes the catch and then quickly transfers the ball to their throwing hand and then makes another throw to their partner.

The cycle repeats over and over until one player misses the catch or drops the transfer.  The softball drill doesn’t stop until each player has a ball in hand and ready to begin again.  Make sure that the players can increase the speed of the toss/catch cycle, but still be under control. Players can count the number of passes/catches to see how long they can keep it going until one person in the pair misses the catch or the transfer.  The pair with the highest catch number wins something, i.e. first pair of batting practice hitters.

As the pairs improve, increase the distance in between the players.  I haven’t tried it yet, but you could possibly do this with three players throwing around a triangle shaped formation.

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From George…
we have a softball drill we really like; it’s a 1234 drill.
We get everyone in a line and 1 girl at a time comes out. We then hit the girl a ground ball, followed by a line drive. She starts running either way and gets another line drive hit at her but she is moving now.

After she catches and throws that one back she takes off running and we hit her a catchable fly ball.

This drill has improved both our infielders and outfielders quickness to balls and their ability to catch balls moving and get planted to make good throws back in.

From Duke …
Pre season softball drill for strength and conditioning:
After the girls have jogged and stretched, Have the team run half speed the length of the gym and sprint back. Immediately go to a strength exercise such as push ups , crunches, lunges, etc. Then repeat the run phase, strength phase.

This will do a whole body work out in a short time frame.

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From Nick…
I always go to softball games early just to find new softball drills. This is a softball drill that I made up and it covers many different aspects of the game. This drill is called ” touch them all”.

You first pair off the girls in two.
The first girl stands behind home plate with her back to the infield.
The second girl stands behind third base facing home plate.
The coach places a softball in front of home plate then blows a whistle to start the drill.

The girl behind home plate turns then finds the ball and throws it to the girl on third. She then catches the ball lays it on third and sprints to second base. The first girl sprints to third base picks the ball up and throws it to the girl waiting on second. The girl on second sprints to first and this continues until the first girl throws the ball home then sprints to touch home plate.

The girls love this drill because I use a stop watch to time them. But as in any fun drill that the girls love, it comes at the end of practice.

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