During Practice, Bat or No Bat???

[GIMNEPIWO]

I'm on board with most everbody ... we do both, plus... we hit & throw, but also set up the pitching machine for fly ball drills where we want to work on a specific skill ...

[DonnieS]

I'm on board with most everbody ... we do both, plus... we hit & throw, but also set up the pitching machine for fly ball drills where we want to work on a specific skill ...

We do the same for fly ball drills, - a game the girls love is - the machine is set at top speed, and one girl gets out in position, then I just start feeding balls as fast as I can into the machine, the girl has to catch them, flip them away and keep catching.

[GIMNEPIWO]

I'm on board with most everbody ... we do both, plus... we hit & throw, but also set up the pitching machine for fly ball drills where we want to work on a specific skill ...

We do the same for fly ball drills, - a game the girls love is - the machine is set at top speed, and one girl gets out in position, then I just start feeding balls as fast as I can into the machine, the girl has to catch them, flip them away and keep catching.

That's cool ... sounds like you could probably turn that into a ball handling drill at the same time... ya got me thinking ! ... I like to set the machine up at the dish and shoot fly balls to a fixed location ... but I set up safety cones in the field so the gals have to start behind the cones ... they get in line and can't move to the next cone until they make the catch ... usually 4 cones so each approach is either forward/backward/right side / left side ... as they make the catches the cones get further and further away from where the ball is headed ... the gals love it, work up a sweat and actually learn how to go back or charge properly from the left or right through alot of reps ....

[DonnieS]

Do you use regular softballs (i use old ones) or do you use machine balls for the pitching machine fielding work?

[Tucson]

I know you weren't talking to me, but softballs only for fielding work.

DD's HS coach used to shoot those cage balls to the outfielders and I really don't agree with that. Cage balls are for hitting. Plus, they can really tear up a glove.

A TB coach I was working with was doing that (using cage balls to shoot to the OF), but she was really new to having a pitching machine and I gave her some old softballs and said "try these."

[GIMNEPIWO]

Do you use regular softballs (i use old ones) or do you use machine balls for the pitching machine fielding work?

I agree with you and Tucson ... I use regular softballs ( dimple balls are way too bouncy and lite flights don't cut it ) ... I know they come out of the machine with funky spin on them ... but that spin adds the variable that makes the drills more realistic ... except I don't like shooting hard ground balls with the machine ... they skip too much ... someone had mentioned using a little bat to hit fielding drills with one handed, one of my Coaching partners does that but I prefer an old bat and using 2 hands ...

[DonnieS]

Do you use regular softballs (i use old ones) or do you use machine balls for the pitching machine fielding work?

I agree with you and Tucson ... I use regular softballs ( dimple balls are way too bouncy and lite flights don't cut it ) ... I know they come out of the machine with funky spin on them ... but that spin adds the variable that makes the drills more realistic ... except I don't like shooting hard ground balls with the machine ... they skip too much ... someone had mentioned using a little bat to hit fielding drills with one handed, one of my Coaching partners does that but I prefer an old bat and using 2 hands ...

I use one of the regular bats, I have an old one I bought for one of the first girls I had on this team, its a sports store special. But my asst coaches are much better doing fielding practice than I am, they hit harder and more accurately. Grounders with a pitching machine puts the wrong spin on the ball and you get unnatural bounces, not game like.

I recently started using that old game 21 when doing fielding practice, I hit balls to all 9 kids, sometimes in order sometimes not, but if anyone mishandles the ball, fielding or throwing, you start over until you have 21 straight. I wouldnt have thought this age kid would like that but they really did. I just did it again a few weeks ago before our last tournament before h/s starts and they loved it. I read that Coach Evans was using it up at College Station - and said it was one of her favorites.

[GIMNEPIWO]

I like drills that put the gals into competition ... but more importantly, they like it too ... through the years the biggest complaint I have heard from players about softball/baseball practices is that there is too much standing around ... so, I try to keep everyone moving, give them as many touches in a practice as possible and keep it competitive and fun ...