Here’s a drill that we started using about a week ago and it works great! It is called Ladder Runs & Relay Throws. For those of you who played basketball, remember back to all of those ladders (or suicides) that you used to run in the gym. This drill is a similar training idea just adapted for softball.
Ladder Runs & Relay Throws
Goals:
Conditioning (speed, turning, distance)
Accurate relay throws
Needed:
Cones
Softballs
Players wear mitt/glove
Set Up and Execution:
Set up a series of cones starting at one of the foul line and extending into center field (or home plate to center field if you want to extend the distance of the drill). The more cones you use the more rungs of the ladder that the players have to run.
Determine how many relay throws you would like your girls to make. You will need that many players involved in the drill and in the relay line.
Place a softball at the further cone (center field).
The first player needs to run to the first cone, back to the starting position. Then to the second cone and back to the starting position, then the third cone and so on until they reach the last cone.
A minimum of three cones should be used. When the first player is running to the last cone the second player in line will follow and stop at the middle cone and becomes the person receiving the first relay throw.
The third person in line remains at the starting location and will receive the final relay throw.
When the first person reaches the softball she will pick it up and turn to make a relay throw to the second girl (at the halfway cone). The second girl will receive the relay throw and turn (glove side) to continue the relay to the starting position. Then both the first player and second player should run back to the starting position. Each girl then moves up one position and continues the drill until everyone has filled each position.
Variation:
Run multiple stations at once and have each line compete for the best time to complete the drill. This will force the girls to run full speed and make accurate throws and receive the ball correctly in a pressure situation.