Slow Pitch Softball Drills – The Gauntlet

Coming up with new ideas for [tag]slow pitch softball drills[/tag] can sometimes be a challenge.   Here’s a [tag]drill[/tag] that Joe sent in.   He calls it  “The Gauntlet”.

We’ll have 8 – 10 players’ line up between 1st and 2nd base, evenly spread out (line A).   The remaining players will form a line at the first base side of the opposing line approx. 8 yards away (line B). (Each of these players should have a ball).

The First player in Line B, starts the [tag]softball[/tag] drill by throwing their ball to the first player in Line A, that player returns the ball back quickly, while Player B has shuffled their feet to throw to the next player in Line A. They repeat this until they completed all Players in Line A.

The idea is to get the player moving sideways down the line.   We want to accomplish the player setting their feet to throw, and then quickly reset them to receive the ball.   It also helps with the hands.   It keeps their glove and hands in proper formation and expedites a quick release.   The player gets the eyes, hands, and feet working together!

You can run different variations of this, for example we start with the player in Line B completing the exercise before the next player in Line B will start, however, you can send the next player after a short delay, so that you have two or three players executing at the same time.

If they get really good, you set it up to have a constant rotation, so that after completing one line of the drill, the player will join the other line, sending another player to the opposite line for a continuous loop.

We’ll run this drill 5 – 10 minutes.   We also move it around not to tear up any one spot on the field.  

All players are active during this drill, the players in line A still have to set their feet and hands to receive and throw too, but the players in line B are actually running “the Gauntlet”!