Quick Hands
This drill is done with a group of four or five.

One person (the thrower) stands about 15′ from & facing the other (three or four) players in her group.

The thrower begins with two softballs.

She will toss a grounder or a line drive to one fielder, who will field the tossed ball ant make a good, quick throw back to the tosser.

As the ball is being released by the fielder, the thrower tosses the second ball (again a grounder or line drive).

Now we have established a two-ball drill, with two balls going at the same time.

Balls can be tossed by the thrower to the same fielder in succession or maybe thrown to any of the fielders at any time.

This drill creates a fun atmosphere, while improving good hand speed and good footwork.

The 4 Corner Box Drill
Set up 4 players roughly 20′ apart from each other in shape of a square (they are the corners).

Going clockwise underhand toss to next player where she traps the ball between throwing hand and back of mitt. This continues for YOUR determined amount of time, then they reverse direction working on the back hand “flip” and still trapping ball in same manner.

Here is where it gets cool (twisted) -
I always put another box in the middle of them (4 more players doing the same drill).

Inner box should in theory make it around before the outer box does with the ball, but you can push them to compete for time and always with no drops !!!

This teaches them multiple skills within same drill – we normally use flat mitts but you can do the drill with regular mitts as I indicated above.

When doing back hand flip they must stay low and not come up. This gives them better focus through concentration and knowing that there is another box that they are competing with are compelled to do it faster than the other box.

You can add a 3rd “outer” box or have the remaining players do any number of drills or sit-ups or push ups etc.

Timed Throwing Drill
We use a stop watch for this one.

We put 3 players on each base, first, second, third and home.
The player at home starts with the ball.
She throws the ball to first and than sprints to first.
The first baseman catches the ball and throws the ball to second and sprints to second.
The second baseman throws to ball to third and sprints to third.
The third baseman throws the ball home and sprints home.

We time the drill.  When the last person at third gets the ball, throws home and sprints home we stop the clock.  We always try and beat our best time.  We focus on a couple of things on this drill.
1.) Throwing the ball in front of the player so when they catch the ball they are ready to throw again.
2.) Setting your feet and throwing to the target.
3.) Sprinting through the base.

End of Practice FUN!
We separate the kids in two equal groups.
We put a tee with a softball on top in the center of the group about 20 to 30 feet away from the tee on each side.
We start with one side throwing the ball to try and knock off the ball.
If the team is successful the other side does 10 push ups.

If the player misses the target and the ball gets by the player on the opposite side. That player does 10 push ups.

We focus on two things here:  Throwing the ball with accuracy to hit the ball off the tee and fielding the ball if the player misses the ball on the tee.

Softball Fielding Drill
Break into two groups: the first player in line in group A takes two steps out then turns to face the next player in line.

She then simulates that it is a hit to her back hand side concentrating on the pivot and then a slow jog glove hand up and extended to catch the ball.

While in a slow jog the player that is next in line tosses the ball to her teammates back hand side (a throw that is catch-able but can also challenge his team mate).

The first person then catches the ball on the run back hand and has to concentrate once again on the quick stop, plant, throw using proper techniques.

Group B does the same drill only to the forehand side 5 – 10 min on each side. It is a great amount of time.

We also use this in pre-game warm-up as well, the kids enjoy it while learning!!

Barney Bop Throwing Drill
One of the best games I have used is called “Barney Bop”. The tools needed are a sturdy chair, a large stuffed toy (I use Barney, hence the name) and preferably a backstop or net to place behind the target.

Start by placing “Barney” in the chair and if needed, prop him up to get him about 3-4 feet off the ground and place the chair with Barney straddling 1st base. Place a net behind the chair.

Now divide your team up into 2 groups and have them line up in 2 columns at the shortstop position.
Have the 1st player from team 1 take the first play.
Hit a grounder the player 1.
She must cleanly field the ball and make a throw to 1st base trying to knock Barney out of the chair. If this is done, her team scores 1 point.
Then the 1st player from team 2 takes the next play and does the same thing.
Do this until all of the players have had at least one turn.

You can move the players from shortstop to 2nd base and do the same game.
I have also had the players set up out in the outfield and place the chair at 2nd base to teach a good throw to 2nd.

Try to have some type of prize for the winning team, like not carrying the equipment or something like that.

Scrimmage Game
Split your team up into 3 teams.
Use live pitching if you are able to or just use the pitching machine.
One team is hitting, one is infield, and one is outfield.

All you do now is scrimmage against each other.  Of course, the 2 defensive teams are playing against the offensive team.  3 outs and rotate–Hitting to infield, infield to outfield, and outfield to hitting.  Keep score.

As an award, the winning team may not pick up equipment for that day.

The Diamond Drill  
Everyone has a glove.
One player on each base, the rest lined up at shortstop.
Coach hits ground balls to short and player must make throw to first.  After which, she follows her throw by running to first.
After the player at first catches it, she throws to second base and then follows her throw and so on.

This drill incorporates fielding, throwing and running all in one drill and it keeps the entire team moving.  When done correctly, there is constant motion.  It is a thing of beauty when done correctly!

Softball Sliding Drill

• Place a portable home plate at one end and approximately 30 feet away place a portable pitchers rubber.
• Five feet away from the home plate towards the pitchers rubber, a coach stands with his arm out at waist height.
• The team lines up behind the pitchers rubber an one at a time.
• The runners race towards home plate and must slide under the coach’s arm into home plate.
• The trick is, each runner has a water balloon that is to be held in both hands.

As you can only imagine, at the end of the drill, the remaining unbroken water balloons are used in a water balloon war.

2 Group Fielding Drill
1 group is at shortstop (set a cone almost behind 2nd base) & 1 in Left Field (set a cone closer to Center field).

2 kids at a time participate in the drill, 1 at each cone

1.) Hit a ground ball to kid at SS, she fields it & throws home
2.) After she throws home, bat quickly, I hit a fly ball or line drive at the Left Fielder.
3.) Left Fielder fields the ball properly (catches it or keeps it in front of her) & hits the cutoff man, who is the SS who has turned around & is still in line with home plate.
4.) Short stop catches Left Fielder’s throw & throws home again.

I have each player go through each line 3 times.  This is really good for quick game situations. It focuses on SS footwork & getting in the right position to throw well to home plate.

3,2,1 Run
One of the games I like is called “3, 2, 1, Run”. In this game, divide the team up into 2 teams.
One team is at bat and one team is lined up behind 3rd base.

Take 3 balls and line them up at intervals of about 5-7 feet apart from 3rd base toward home plate. They should end about half way between 3rd base and home plate.

The team at home is called team 1 and the ones on defense are team 2.

Have the 1st player from team 2 stand on 3rd base with her glove while the 1st player from team 1 is at home plate.

When the coach says, “Go”, the defensive player must run to the 1st ball, pick it up and make a throw to a teammate standing at 2nd base (I have a bucket there to drop the balls into), then go to the 2nd ball and do the same thing and on to the 3rd ball.

The player at home starts running at the sound of “Go” and runs to 1st base and on to 2nd.

The object of this game is to throw all 3 balls to the defensive player at 2nd base before the offensive player gets there. This is a LOT harder than it sounds, but it teaches making fast, accurate throws while under pressure.