Produce good softball players, not good robots.

We do not focus on it a lot. We focus on awareness of the pitch. I ask every girl to be prepared to answer me as to the "why did you do that?" question. I also constantly tell them that I will only ask because I want to ensure they are thinking about the game, not merely reacting to it. While I do not focus on DP's in one of out first scrimmages we turned 3 due to different situations. All related to player awareness prior to the pitch as opposed to routine.

The problem with turning DP's that I see is like the OP stated, just lack of awareness. But diagnosing the problem doesn't mean it's easy to teach at the younger levels. I had all these great ideas on how to coach an 8U team, but after getting a team of mostly beginners for the second year in a row, I'm still trying to teach the mechanics of a throw, and then hoping they can catch the ball if its anywhere close. You're dealing with a little fear, a little lack of attention, a little confusion, and a lot of girls who don't play a lot in between practices to get better. I end up spending a lot of time going over the basic skills, and with limited practice time there isn't much time to get into situational awareness.

Sluggers, these 14u games that you cite where players are not taught how to make a double play, are these rec games where just being able to field an infield with players who know how to catch a thrown ball is a challenge or is your observation from travel/select teams? If it's the latter, I call your bluff. I have never seen travel ball teams that didn't attempt double plays when presented with the situation. They may not execute it cleanly every time but they do attempt the play. In fact, I would argue that players today at the competitive level are more prepared than ever because they tend to play the game year round, play more tournaments, practice more, and have access to better coaching. Sometimes we live in this fantasy world that "things were better when we were kids" mentality that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

I manage a 10u team and we practice double plays, cut offs, relays almost every practice. We also teach the 1st baseman coming off and looking at the runner on third after getting the out at first.

2 games from the weekend, I had girls stealing on their own, scoring from second on their own, running from 1st to 3rd on a bunt down 3rd base line. We teach all this at practice.

While the players do need to learn how to listen to coaches, they also need to learn the game and how to use their heads, not just follow directions.

Coach Hig said:

IMO, turning 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 double plays is not something I'm concentrating on for a couple of reasons. One, I'm not confident that, despite instruction and example of, the 5 or 4 is going to recognize a ball hit hard enough to warrant the double play attempt. Secondly, I find more often than not, with stop watch in hand, we cannot turn the 6-4-3/4-6-3 quick enough. The whole sequence of events - cover, cradle, separate WITH a controlled (read, "not rushed"), accurate throw has been difficult for us to consistently perform. I time the girls running speeds from home to first and home to second and then average their speeds and surmise that all the other girls in the division are pretty much in or near that average of speed to those same bases. Unless we are turning the 6-4-3 double play in the same or lesser time, I shy away from spending much time here.

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You will never turn the 6-4-3 DP in the same or lesser time if you don't keep trying to do it. The funny thing about experience is that it's often the best teacher, regardless of what us coaches think of ourselves and our ability.

My 12U team is taught to try it every time the situation occurs. This means not only 6-4-3, but 5-4-3, 6-4-3, 4-6-3, 3-6-3 and 1-6-3. Last year, as 11-year-olds, we only managed to successfully complete the 1-6-3 two times. This year, as 12-year-olds, they've gotten faster by trying it in games dozens of times and have now successfully completed 6-4-3 (3 times), 4-6-3 (2 times) and 5-4-3 (1 time) in addition to a few 1-6-3s. We even had a 3-6-3 in the bag but the base ump missed the call at 1B and took it away from them.

I can guarantee you the girls would not have turned any of these DPs this year if the only place they tried them was in practice. They would have never understood what type of "game speed" was necessary to be successful without trying it repeatedly in games.

ditto^^^ same goes for other plays that require a quick "read-react" like pickoffs. You are going to fail at first but you need to do do it and fail in games to be able to eventually get it right. I say "fail aggressively" is a good philosophy.

DD's team regularly practices the 4-6-3, 6-4-3, 5-4-3, and 3-6-4 double plays (and more rarely ones with the pitcher or catcher), not that they have often made them in games, but they've tried and it does let them work on their footwork and throwing and IMO it helps them think about always looking for extra outs. To me, that's one of the main things. Don't stop playing too soon. Whether you made your first out attempt or not, keep looking for more. I don't mean you should throw the ball around recklessly, but be aware. Cover (or backup) bases that might need to be covered, check all the runners, etc.

I had written a long response, but I've been re-thinking what I was trying to say. I think Sluggers has a fantastic point; though there isn't much of a way to change the way the game is coached unless we change the way the game is played at young ages. What if, at the very young ages, the game was played with 50ft bases? At 8U, 10U, the advantage is very much to the runner. A player can run 60ft much faster than some of these rainbow throws can travel. Coaches thus teach the game conservatively, going for one out at a time. With 50 ft bases, maybe the game would speed up at the younger levels. Yes, the runner would get there faster, but so would the ball. Baseball starts out at 60 ft bases, gradually working up to 90ft by the time the boys are 14 - I think a similar model for softball would be successful and would help the girls take more chances at a younger age and become more game-savvy.

The USTA has adopted a similar model, with smaller courts and a less-bouncy tennis ball for the younger ages. The emphasis is put back on proper mechanics and game strategy, rather than the odd 8 or 10 year old who has the strength to handle an adult-sized court and ball.

Our league has 50' foot bases for 8u. The advantage is you actually have girls who can make the throw from third to first. We don't have stealing, so you don't have to worry about catchers throwing anyone out (none could). The disadvantage: with slowly hit balls (like most are), it's impossible to get an out anywhere on the bases. Why: runners can lead off, and even though the rules say they can only go 15' leading off, this isn't enforced very often.