Strategies and Tactics

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Most of the time when you’re  on a fastpitch softball hitting, you have to deal with covering the full strike zone. As a hitter you find a location at the plate that allows you full coverage and you stay there.

But sometimes you’ll run into a pitcher who lives on the outside corner. Sometimes it’s because they’re afraid to come inside because they fear hitting a batter. Sometimes they just realize most hitters don’t hit the outside pitch very well. Combine that with an umpire willing to give the outside corner, or maybe a little more, and it can spell a long day at the plate.

When that occurs, the best way to deal with it is to move in and crowd the plate as much as the umpire will let you. By doing so you essentially take that outside pitch that’s hard to hit and turn it into a middle pitch you can hit hard.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

There is an old saying that many coaches profess to follow: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In other words, if a player is successful as a hitter, fielder, pitcher, etc. coaches should let them continue doing what they're doing — even if it is less than optimal.

I don't know about you, but I personally have a problem with that type of thinking. Many a player has been set behind on their overall goals by coaches putting short-term wins ahead of a player's long-term development.

One of the most obvious areas is pitching. Coaches prize strikes, especially at the younger ages. "We can't defend a walk," they will yell to their young pitchers. So the message is delivered: do whatever it takes to get the ball over the plate. And that's what their pitchers do — whatever it takes, whether it's mechanically sound or not, and whether it will lead to long-term success or not.

Guest Post by Don McKay, Softball Editor for Bellaonline

I’ve seen polar opposites this season when it comes to Softball schedules. My older daughter’s team has purposely scheduled the very easiest tournaments they could find leading up to their end-of-season tourney. In contrast, my younger daughter’s team has played the toughest competition at friendlies and qualifying tournaments possible in preparation for their end-of-season tourney. Both teams’ scheduling philosophies were so different that it begs the question:

“Is it better to play a Soft Schedule or Hard Schedule to prepare for post-season play and/or the ‘Big tournament’?”

I see definite advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.

I’ve observed that the team with the soft schedule has become very confident because they have had a lot of success, albeit against weaker competition (though I don’t think that the girls realize how soft the schedule has been). Additionally, they’ve been rewarded because in most of the tournaments they’ve played, they’ve ended up in the championship game and so they have taken home a lot of trophies (most for 2nd place, but I don’t think that matters for a 12 year-old girl). Even if their season ended today, I think each player would think that it was a successful season and that they had a lot of fun.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

About a week and a half ago, one of the all-time coaching legends, former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, passed away. He was known both for his success — 10 Division One college championships — and the class with which he conducted himself.

One other thing he was known for was his focus on doing the little things right. That's a lesson that cuts across all sports at all times.

In our sport, attention to the little things is critical because so much of it is mental, and so much of it has such fine detail. Softball is often called a game of inches; that makes every little detail important.

Think about softball hitting. There's only a fraction of an inch between a line drive and a pop-up, a hard-hit ground ball through the infield and a soft roller back to the pitcher.

For pitchers it's just as fine. The plate is only 17 inches wide. If you're trying to catch the edge of it, an inch here or there is the difference between a ball and a strike.

Defense in the game of softball is all about the ball. The basic job of a softball defense is to get outs at every opportunity and there aren't all that many situations in which you can get an out without the ball (and even then, most are technicalities that you don't want to have to rely on to get you outs).

That said, here are 5 Key Ball Concepts for Softball Defense:

• ATTACK the ball - play it, don't let it play you
• CONTROL the ball - you can't get the out without the ball
• WANT the ball - you gotta want it, if you're standing on the field hoping the ball doesn't come to you, chances are it will and you won't be ready
• EXPECT the ball - wanting the ball is a great start, but if you only want it and don't actually expect it to come to you, you may still not be ready to make a play
• ALWAYS be READY for the ball - this gives you the best chance to get the out in the opportunities you are given

If you're looking to play college at the next level and are not taking advantage of Facebook and Twitter, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with college coaches.  As you may know, coaches are limited when it comes to contacting prospects.  Since there are limits on in person contacts, phone calls, and text messages many coaching staffs are now looking to avenues such as Facebook and Twitter to instantaneously inform prospects or recruits with the latest news.

Smart college coaches know that high school student-athletes now days often carry smart phones around with them.  While they may not e-mail all that often, many have 24/7 access to their Facebook or Twitter account via their phone, which you probably know is ALWAYS with them!  As a coach who works with that age group, I know there may be times when a player forgets socks or shoes, but never their phone. 

Anyway, the point is, many college coaches are well aware of how tech-savvy high school student-athletes are and many are beginning to tap into those avenues of communication for recruiting purposes.  This means a couple of things:

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Watch the hitters in a fastpitch softball game and more often than not this is what you will see: despite the fact that they have a $300+ club in their hands, they will let the pitchers dictate what happens. The hitters will stand at the plate, waiting for the pitch to be delivered. Then, as the pitch is on its way – usually well on its way – they will try to make some quick decisions and react to what they see.

While that might seem reasonable, that way of thinking actually works against the hitter. It’s all a matter of time.

A softball pitched at 60 mph from 43 feet away allows roughly .4 seconds of reaction time. Even if the pitch is slower, it’s still only a half-second or so of reaction time. Figure you’re going to lose a tenth of a second or two as your brain tries to figure out what’s going on – here comes the pitch, is it going high or low, is it inside or outside, etc. So now you only have two or three tenths of a second to get your body and bat in motion and take the bat to the right spot.

Hot bats are great to have, but some days, they just aren't working. It's always nice to have other weapons in your arsenal and bunting is something that can give you more options to help manufacture runs.

Here are 11 different ways you can use bunts:

1. Sacrifice Bunt
2. Quick Bunt
3. Push Bunt
4. Sac and Run
5. Quick and Run
6. Push and Run
7. Fake Sac
8. Fake Quick
9. Fake Sac and Run
10. Fake Quick and Run
11. Squeeze

Don't forget though that these things take practice. You can't just expect your players to execute these plays without practice. Bunting seems simple enough (actually it IS simple), but you may be surprised at how many players aren't very good at it. It's definitely something you need to devote practice time to if you want to be able to utilize it in game situations.

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I had a question come in the other day about baserunning. A coach wanted to know if I could share some tips for running bases. I figured that you may want some tips on baserunning too. It can be so much fun when you do it well! Anyway, here are a few things I mentioned:

1. Good baserunning is not only about being fast, being smart is just as important.
2. Touch every base.
3. Always know where the ball is.
4. Tag up on all foul fly balls.
5. When in doubt, hit the deck (slide).
6. Know the situation and anticipate the action.
7. Always check the defense for gaps and position/depth.
8. Know how many outs there are!!!
9. As a batter, run out EVERY hit no matter what. Never assume a ball is foul, a pop fly is caught, or a grounder is a sure out. Always put pressure on the defense by hauling your butt down the line.
10. If a high pop fly is dropped, you, as a batter-runner should be well on your way to 2nd base, or better yet, standing on 2nd base, when the ball drops not scrambling to get to 1st base.

As a softball coach I know that it can sometime be a challenge to figure out what to do in practice. So, with that in mind, I just put together a short list of 21 things you could practice in practice.

Hope this helps!

1. Bunts: Sac, Quick, Push, Squeeze
2. Hit and Run (reading the signal and execution)
3. Pickle/Run Down
4. Relays
5. Double Plays
6. Pick Offs
7. Bunt Coverage
8. Steal Coverage
9. Outfield Coverage
10. 1st & 3rd Plays
11. Baserunning
12. Sliding
13. Reading Signals
14. Executing Signals
15. Fielding Technique
16. Throwing Technique
17. Catching Technique
18. Hitting off Live Pitchers
19. Speed and Agility
20. Fly Ball Tracking
21. Pitching, pitching, and more pitching

I'm sure you could add even more to this list!  If you have any additional ideas, feel free to leave a comment and share them below.  Let's get a really great list going here!

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I've coached at pretty much all levels of the game going from rec 8U to college and international softball in the ast 20 years.

I've coached and watched a lot of softball games in my life.

A couple of years ago, I even spent an entire summer  scouting (charting pitches, identifying pitching patterns,  measuring speed, etc.) and filming the best pitchers in the world (Finch, Roche, Ueno, Fernandez, etc.) for the Canadian Women's National Team.

One thing that seems to be consistent accross all levels is the difficulty that the majority of batters have hitting  the low inside and outside pitches.

At the younger levels (not talking about 18U Gold or college ball), I strongly believe that if a pitcher keeps the ball  low most of the time and throws strikes on the low corners  (even only using a fastball), she can get easily 80% of  the batters out.

Do you know many teams that carry a lot of of hitters able to consistently hit rockets out of low inside or outside pitches?

I don't.

Most teams may have one or two such hitters - maybe three if they are lucky.

I'm a firm believer is shifting the odds in your favor.

Softball is somewhat of a complex game.

Yet, to be successful, it comes back to accomplishing a few very simple things.

Doing those simple things will "shift the odds in your favor."

What are these simple things?

Here's my top 10 list of rules to shift the odds in your favor.

1) Pitching - keep the ball low most of the time and on the corners.

How many hitters do you know that can hit an inside or outside low pitches very hard?

2) Pitching - Throw strikes early. Get ahead in the count. Then mix.

3) Avoid walks at almost all cost except in a few situations.

I'm allergic to walks. Most of the time, almost 60-70% come to  score - especially when given early in the inning.

4) Don't give easy bases to any runner, especially to the  trail runner.

5) Always get at least one "sure" out. Lead runner if you can.

The team that gets to 21 out the fastest usually wins.

Yesterday, with my new team we played three games. I am  certainly happy with our 3 wins.

However, what I'm most happy about is the fact that I see my players learning and progressing.

That's my number one goal especially in the off-season.

One of the concepts that I have really been emphasizing over the last 4 weeks (since I started with this new 16U team) is to learn how to make adjustments and control what you can control.

Making an adjustment can mean a lot of things.

If you are a pitcher or a catcher, making an adjustment  might be to adjust your pitching according to the umpire's strike zone or to change the strategy because a pitch isn't working.

Another example could be to move a few steps towards one side on defense when you realize that the batter pulls a few long foul balls on a specific side.

Offensively, it could be to get closer to the plate as the umpire calls the outside pitches and that's the pitcher's favorite spots today.

Making adjustments is also being able to adjust your own mechanics (pitching, hitting, etc.) because something isn't working.

Today, I was in NY State with my good friend Sean Cotter. Sean is the Head Softball Coach at Plattsburgh State University,  one of the best NCAA Division III softball program in the country.

Sean is very well-known for driving his opponents crazy with a very aggressive style of play. And I mean really aggressive.

He uses just about every ways he can find to "manufacture runs" and "make things happen".

I know. I used to play him in exhibition games a few years ago with my 23U team and he would drive my players crazy.

Of course, they do the basic. They steal. They slap. They drag. They squeeze. They hit and run or run and hit.

But, they can be quite unconventional. They often take two bases on a sacrifice bunt, they're running to home from 3rd on anything that is hit on the ground ("angle down" ball), they always suicide squeeze (very rarely use the safety), they leave slightly early,  they slap from the right side, and the list goes on.

Some people would call that crazy or too aggressive but guess what? They are very successful. And they do drive their opponents crazy and they get in their head big time.