Base running question

djcarter1966 said:

Just so there was no misunderstanding my suggestion was to do what the coach "told you" BEFORE the play not what he "tells you" during the play definitely agree you have to know ahead of time, the only time you are really watching your coach during play is rounding second or third with a ball in the outfield since the play is behind you then you pick up your coaches signal.

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Good clarification. I totally agree. Fastpitch is completely different than baseball and unfortunately it takes some time for the typical new FP coach to understand the speed and immediacy of the game. Most these male coaches have never played FP and they think its like baseball where you earn your runs from the batters box. In FP, we earn our runs on the basepaths. When these dads start coaching at 10U they normally don't learn this fact until 12U or 14U or until some experienced 10U coach has ran them off the field without really ever hitting the ball.

As for 10U strategy and also 12U, the pitching and catching is still erratic. With a runner on third, I like to make sure the batter sees lots of pitches and increase the chance of a pitch getting behind the catcher. As long as your runner on third knows they have the green light to make a split decision, they will typically make it home without the ball being put into play.

If a 2B playing at "normal" depth at 14U ball is throwing out runners at 3B on tag plays more than 10% of the time, you are either playing against very poor base runners or "normal" depth for your 2B is too shallow. This is no different than a 2B or SS playing at normal depth throwing out runners at home when the runner is leaving at contact. It just shouldn't happen more than 10% of the time.

With infielders at proper normal depth, the runner should be advancing without incident from 2B to 3B on any ground ball hit behind her (that makes it past the pitcher) other than perhaps a well-hit ball to 1B. If the 2B is playing near the base line, then the same rules apply to an infield "playing in" to cut off a run at home.

That's what I was going to say LAS. If the baserunners are being taught to run the bases properly, even a "slow" girl should be at 3rd well before the ball gets there from a 2nd baseman at normal depth. The issue comes in that too many coaches teach to react to positive plays for their team (swing at strikes, run on passed balls, run on balls hit on the ground). The game is too fast and too many opportunities are lost for that kind of mindset. When you watch a team who has been coached to react to negative things (don't swing at balls, stop on balls caught by catcher, stop or react to balls hit in the air), it's like you're watching an entirely different game. If they are taught to expect that the defense, or their team mates who are batting, are about to do something to let them go to the next base, runs are much easier to come by. Imo anyway.