When we talk about the bunting game, there are a few key points that you want to emphasize with your players. The first and most important point thing to emphasize to your players is that the bunter is the bridge to the RBI. Make sure your players understand that it’s important to be the bunter and get that ball down. Because once you get that runner to second base, you now have an RBI situation to score a run.

Softball Hitting & The Bunting Game

The bunt is opposite of hitting. Hitting is an attack, while bunting is more passive. So you want to be sure to work on a “feel” or a “touch” when you are bunting.

Here are some important points to remember about the bunt game:

As the player gets into their hitting stance, they can either pivot off the back foot (where they actually go away from the home plate), or they can do a 2 foot pivot where they pivot off of both feet. The key is to make sure that they are in a good athletic position and that they have good plate coverage when they are bunting.

The second thing to emphasize is once they get into their bunting position. There should be a slight slant in the barrel of the bat when they get ready to bunt. The key is to make sure the bat is at the top of the strike zone. To check this, grab the handle with the left hand (for a right handed batter), ensure that the elbows are down and the player should be able to wave to the pitcher. With the opposite hand, they are going to pinch the neck of the bat with their thumb and index finger.

As the ball comes at you, the ball has a front, an inside and an outside. You are trying to bunt the outside part of the ball. So as the ball comes in and then begins to peel out and away, you are going to pull the knob of the bat in towards the belly. That allows that barrel to catch the outside of the ball and bunt it fair. The most common problem we see is that player will follow the outside pitch, and then the knob will go out and they bunt the inside of the ball, and it bleeds foul.

Key points:

Be in your athletic position, with good balance

Bat — Barrel — Top of the strike zone with a slant so you can have good coverage as the ball moves through the zone

Elbows should be down, and the player should be able to wave to the pitcher.

The knees will bend and flex the barrel into the lower part of the strike zone. (Many times, you are going to see that the hitter stands tall and leans forward into the bunt.)

Catch the ball — don’t go out and stab at it

Don’t pull your head away, because your bat is going to follow your head.

The bunt is key to winning the ball game. Don’t ever underestimate the value of the bunt.

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