Speed Development
Skills
Drills
Smart base running is probably the most important part of the game of softball. If a player knows how to get around the bases with proper techniques and quick instincts, she doesn't necessarily have to be the fastest player on the team. Understanding the basics goes a long way.
Speed Development
One must know how to run with correct running mechanics to begin with in order to run at their optimum speed. In order to obtain this, they can regularly perform two phases of a program entitled "Speed Development".
Cones set up 90 feet apart. 3 sets of each. Perform the skill half way and then sprint out the rest of the way.
This phase concentrates its focus on the development of proper form while running. Here are the areas to work
on:
1. Arm Swing: The elbows should stay tucked in and close to the body. They should swing
so that the triceps are parallel to the ground in the front and in the
back. While performing the rest of the skills, make sure that the proper
arm swing is taking place.
2. Butt Kickers: The feet should kick the butt as many times as possible before the
sprint out. The arm swings should be as quick as the butt kicks.
3. High Knee March: Walk half way while performing a high knee march. The arms should
swing opposite of the knees.
High Knee Jog: Jog half way while performing a high knee jog.
High Knee Run: Run half way while performing a high knee run. The knees should come
up as many times as possible before the spring out.
4. Wall Slides: Sort-of like the high knee run, except that the feet should not break the
plane of the back side. For example, pretend that there is a pane of
glass extending from your back to the ground. The feet should not
extend through this imaginary line and break the glass.
5. Bounding: The player should try to go as far forward and as far up as they can on
each bound. It is sort-of like an extended skip.
6. Towing: Each player has a partner. The partner grabs a hold of her partner's waist
and supplies resistance as she runs as hard as she can making sure to drive
her knees and her arms up. After about half way, the partner lets go
allowing her to sprint the rest of the way out.
7. Accelerations: Cones are set up in intervals up to 120 feet. At each cone the player
should accelerate her speed so that by the second to the last cone she
should be running at full speed.
8. Pick Up Runs: Cones are set up at 60 feet and at 120 feet. The player should be at
full speed when she gets to the first cone, and should continue to run
through the second cone.
Speed Development (MECHANICS):
Cones set up 90 feet apart. 3 sets of each on singles sides. 2 sets of each on double sides. Perform the skill half way and then sprint out the rest of the way.
1. Starts: Cones are set up about a stride from the start line with increasing distance
the farther you go. The player should start sideways with her right foot
forward. She then explodes with a cross over step trying to gain as much
distance as possible while staying low to the ground. DO NOT STAND UP!
Make sure to keep the knees bent! She begins with 1 step, then moves on to
3 steps, then 5 steps, and finally ends with 7 steps.
2. Lateral Rights/Lefts: Player starts sideways. She takes two slide steps to the right
and then sprints out. After two reps, she does the same thing
but instead takes two slide steps to the left and then sprints
out.
3. Drop-Step Right/Left: Player should start with her back to the start line. She then
explodes with a drop step to the right, making sure to not
take a negative step forward. Complete 2 on each side.
4. Reverse Pivot Right/Left: Same as drop-step skill, but rather at half way the player
should change her direction to go the other way. She does
this by turning towards the ball while keeping her eyes on
the ball the entire time.
5. Head Arounds: Same as drop-Step, but instead of turning towards the ball, the player
should just quickly rotate the head so that she may loose the ball for a
brief moment, but in return gains a step without having to turn around
with a reverse pivot.
6. Scramble-Ups: The player should start by laying on the ground with her arms straight
out ahead of her. When the coach says "go", she should scramble up
as quickly as possible and sprint out to the cone.
Base Running Skills
1. Front of the Base: Every time a runner runs to first base, she should concentrate on
hitting the very front edge of the base. The reason for this is
because the bases are measured 60 feet from the tip of home
plate to the back edge of the base. So if the runner hits the
very front edge, she is actually running a shorter distance, thus
making her changes of being safe in a close play more favorable.
After she runs through the base, she needs to make sure that
she runs in a straight line down the foul line. She should NOT
curve off to the side towards the fence. In case she has the
opportunity to advance because of an overthrow, and she does
this, then she just has to take the time to make up this ground on
her way to second base.
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2. Gather and Find: When the runner hits the base, she should be at full speed. In
order to slow down properly, she must gain control of her body. The
way she does this is by lowering her butt to the ground by bending
her knees as she is stopping. This puts her in a nice athletic stance
as she is slowing down.
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3. Gather, Find, and Advance: In case of an overthrow to first base from the fielder,
the runner must be able to find the ball at the fence and
make a quick turn to second base without covering any
more ground than necessary. As she is makes her
athletic stop (as described above), she must turn her head
on a swivel (so that her body is still facing the foul line)
and find the ball at the fence. Once she locates is and
decides that she can make it to second base safely, she
must plant her feet so that she can quickly change
directions on a sharp turn. She then should advance to
second base.
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4. Rounding the Base: When rounding a base, the runner needs to make sure that she hits
the base with her left foot. As she does this, she must dip her
left shoulder down into the turn. This makes it possible to execute
a nice sharp turn towards the next base instead of a wide time-
consuming turn. To practice this, a cone should be placed about 5
feet out in the baseline, and about 1 foot behind the baseline.
The runner should be able to round the base while staying inside of
the cone without having to slow down or without having to make a
big "question mark" round before she gets to first base.
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1. Sacrifice Bunt Technique: When a sacrifice bunt is asked of the batter, the runner on
first base needs to know that she cannot be doubled off on
a pop-up or picked off because of a lead that is too big.
In order to prevent these cases, the runner should take one
big explosive step off of the base and then square herself
up to home plate, making sure that her shoulders and hips
are both squared. She should then take two controlled
sideways steps while staying low to the ground. While she is
doing this, she should be reading "downward trajectory" of
the ball. This basically means that if she sees that the ball
is not going to be caught in the air, she should begin to run
towards second base. If she sees that the ball is going to
be caught, she should retreat back to the base and look to
tag up in certain instances.
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2. Three Step Technique: This technique is used in a "hit and run" situation. Basically the
runner wants to execute a straight steal start. But while she
is taking her first few steps, she should be counting them in
her head, "one, two, three" each time one of her feet hits the
ground. On the third step she should glance up to home plate,
without slowing down, to see if the batter made contact with
the ball and if it is in the air. If the batter misses the ball,
then it becomes a straight steal attempt. If the ball is hit in
the air, then the runner must read that and slow up making
sure that the ball will or will not be caught.
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3. Straight Steal: When a runner is called on to straight steal, she should be looking for
"daylight under the pitching heel". What this means is that when the
pitcher's arm is accelerating up into her windmill motion, her pivot heel
begins to move up off of the mound. This is the sign for the base
runner to begin her steal. By the time the runner releases her back
foot off of the base, the pitcher will be releasing the ball at the
same time. By looking for the daylight under the pitcher's heel, the
base runner can time her steal perfectly.
1. Tag to Right: The base runner should take her proper lead off of second base. When
she realizes that the ball is hit in the air to right field, she should open
up to the ball as she is going back to the base to tag up (always
following the ball with her eyes). When she gets to the base, she
should put her left foot on the base with her right foot in front of the
base. Her shoulders and hips should be squared up to third base, with
her arms in good running position. Her head should be on a swivel so
that she is looking at the right fielder. When the ball is caught, she
should then advance to third base.
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2. Tag to Center/Left: The base runner should take her proper lead off of second base.
When she realizes that the ball is hit in the air to left/center
field, she should open up to the ball as she is going back to the
base to tag up (always following the ball with her eyes). When
she gets to the base, she should put her right foot on the base
with her left foot in front of the base. Her shoulders and hips
should be squared up to third base, with her arms in good running
position. Her head should be on a swivel so that she is looking at
the left/center fielder. When the ball is caught, she should then
advance to third base.
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3. Ground Ball Read: When a base runner takes a lead off of second base, she should be
prepared to advance to third base on a ground ball. If the ball is
hit to the shortstop, the runner needs to be able to make a quick
decision. Basically, if the ball is hit at her or behind her, then she
should proceed to third base. The reason for this is because if the
shortstop fields the ball, then she has to make a tremendous play to
go across her momentum to try to get the base runner advancing to
third.
If the ball is hit in front of her, then she needs to decide quickly to
retreat back to second base.
1. Tag to Right/Center: The base runner should take her proper lead off of third base.
When she realizes that the ball is hit in the air to right/center
field, she should open up to the ball as she is going back to the
base to tag up (always following the ball with her eyes). When
she gets to the base, she should put her left foot on the base
with her right foot in front of the base. Her shoulders and hips
should be squared up to home plate, with her arms in good
running position. Her head should be on a swivel so that she is
looking at the right/center fielder. When the ball is caught,
she should then advance to home.
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2. Tag to Left (over right shoulder): The base runner should take her proper lead off of
third base. When she realizes that the ball is hit
in the air to left field, she should open up to the
ball as she is going back to the base to tag up
(always following the ball with her eyes). When she
gets to the base, she should put her left foot on
the base with her right foot in front of the base.
Her shoulders and hips should be squared up to home
plate, with her arms in good running position. Her
head should be on a swivel so that she is looking at
the left fielder. When the ball is caught, she
should then advance to home.
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3. Quick/Easy Tag: When a runner is on third base and there is a line drive or a short
low fly ball to the outfielder, then the runner needs to get back to
the base in a hurry if she wants to tag up.
When a runner is on third base and there is a long fly ball that is
taking the outfielder backwards, then the runner will take an "easy"
tag. What this means is that after the ball is caught, the runner
will yell out loud "one thousand one". By doing this it doesn't give the
umpire any reason to call the runner out for leaving early. In this
situation, she has plenty of time to score safely, so there is no
reason for her to leave early.
Base Running Drills
Purpose: Teaches the base runners how to read the coach and how to react to what the runner ahead of her does.
The drill works as follows:
A couple of runners should start at all four corners with the coach in the third base coaching box. The drill starts with a fake swing by the runner at home plate. The third base coach decides whether to wave the runners on or not. If he holds a runner up, either at third base or second base, then the runners behind her need to be able to react to that. The runners should always be using the proper techniques while running the bases, including always hitting the bag with her left foot.
Purpose: Gives the runners practice at performing proper base running techniques while conditioning them.
The drill works as follows:
All of the runners line up at home plate. The coach stands on the mound with a stop watch. On his command, the runners begin by sprinting through first base, making sure to hit the very front edge of the base as well as executing the gather and find technique. After a runner gets about half-way down the line, the next runner starts. The coach begins his watch when the first runner begins to run and stops it when the last runner touches first base. By timing them, it allows the coach to see if everyone is going hard all of the time. All of the runners return to home plate. This is done again a total of five times. After that, the runners are now sprinting out a double to second base, making sure to round first base properly. Again the coach times the runners. This is done four times. After that, the runners are now legging out a triple to third base, making sure to round first and second base properly. Again the coach times the runners. This is done three times. After that, the runners are now sprinting out an inside-the-park home run, making sure to round first, second, and third properly. Again the coach times the runners. This is done two times. To finish the drill off, the runners get to perform a home run trot around the bases one time.
Purpose: A good base runner is able to judge whether or not a fly ball will be caught by an outfielder. By being able to do this, she will get a much better jump and possibly advance two bases instead of just one. This drill gives the base runners practice at being able to better judge fly balls.
The drill works as follows:
Three players take the outfield positions, while the rest of the players go to each base. The coach hits a fly ball to the outfield, and the base runners have to judge whether or not the ball is able to be caught or not. The runners on first and second should go 1/2 way down the baseline anyways on a fly ball (depending on where the ball is hit) while the runner of third should be tagging up. If the runners judge that the ball won't be caught then they should advance to the next base. If the ball is caught then they should return to their base, with the possibility of tagging up (usually the runner on first won't tag up). The runners rotate bases in a counter-clockwise manner after their turn, and after a set number of plays three more players switch with the outfielders.
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