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In just my second season of coaching softball, I found that the kids loved the drill called Pickle.   It helps the kids learn to throw and catch since they take their minds off the steps and just execute the drill.   This can work well with your younger and older players as well.

Pickle Drill
Set up enough stations for 3 kids: 9 players would be 3 stations.
Each station has two orange cones about 30′ apart. Distance would increase if older kids were to play.

I give the ball to one person in each station but the baserunner doesn’t know who has the ball.   Each baseman is on a cone with the baserunner in the middle.

The object is for the baserunner to reach a cone without being tagged.   The baseman will run after the runner and act like she has the ball even if she doesn’t.

If the runner goes in the direction of the baseman with the ball she’ll tag him out.

If she goes in the opposite direction she’ll throw the ball to the other baseman and hopefully she catches it and tags her out, and of course the pickle starts until the runner either makes it to a cone or is tagged out.

All teams that tag out the runner stay on the field until the only one team remains.

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