Softball Baserunning Drills – Second to Home

February 1, 2010 at 2:38 am | Posted in Base Running, fielding | Leave a comment
Tags: baserunning, fielding, Offensive drill, softball baserunning drills

Purpose: To develop baserunning techniques for going from second base to home plate on a base hit, a good drill for coaching softball.

Procedure: The team will need a bucket of balls and gloves. Place a right fielder, center fielder, second baseman, shortstop, and catcher at their respective positions. The rest of the players line up at second base. The coach, located at the pitcher’s plate, throws a ball into the outfield between two outfielders. As the coach throws the ball, he yells, “Go,” and the first player in line runs toward third, touches the bag, and heads home. The fielders try to throw the runner out at home. The runner then jogs back to the end of the line at second base. The next player in line enters the drill.

The “round the base and hold” technique is used if the coach cannot determine whether to send the runner or not. However, if the ball is misplayed on the relay into the infield, the runner, who holds about 5 to 8 feet off third, is in a good position to run home on the coach’s command. Base runners should almost always slide at heme to avoid a collision with the catcher.