Drills for Girls Softball – Underhanding the Ball for Force-Out

These drills for girls softball work on the simple task of underhanding the ball to a base for a force-out. The fielding of the ball isn’t what we’re working on here, but the players need to work on the transition between fielding and the throw.

As a softball coach, I’ve noticed that the girls are always wanting to give an actual underhand toss, then they end up tossing the ball over the first baseman’s head. What you really want to do is push the ball toward the player covering the base.

When you push the softball, you don’t have to worry about your release point. Their arm is going straight toward the base they’re throwing to so the ball has no choice but to continue that direction, provided they push it hard enough.

How this drill works is to have a first and second baseman. Later on you can move to other situations around the infield for forces at second, third and home.

Hit or roll a ball to the second baseman and have her field the ball and do a ‘push’ to get the ball to first base. The problem with the underhand toss is that the girls always want to give a nice big back swing (which takes time) then they have to time the release point correctly or they risk a too low or too high throw, risking an error.

Make sure after they field the ball, they keep their forearm level so they get a nice straight push towards first. No back swing, and not really a toss. Just a simple push.

It’s quick, accurate and rare.   They may need to repeat this several times to gauge how hard they need to push for different distances.