Crash course in dropped-third strike, full stealing 12U town travel

canyonjoe · May 24, 2016

Agree with comments that you should have been using already in league play, but for at least the first tournament make sure that
you know the rule.

On offense you can just have them run on a D3K until they know the rule cold. I would rather have an ump get mad at a time when
we went versus not running when we could.

On defense tell the catcher when you have 2 strikes if it's in affect. They will pick it up quick. In particular work a little on your C tagging
the runner if she can versus throwing.

As far as the stealing, you play straight steals the way you normally do. on the Delay stuff have C fire back to P right away unless runner is close to halfway.

then have C run at runner to force them.

There will be a couple of teams that will take advantage and you can work on it in practice. I also suggest having your IF watch some of the good teams play and see
how they handle. Good teams just shut it down by being quick.

We have played 4 14U Tournaments this year and I can't remember 1 delayed steal in 20+ games. At 12 it's a little more common but decent TB teams keep it down to a minimum.

Strike2 · May 24, 2016

dinogirl said:
I am assistant coach for a relatively inexperienced 12U town travel team. We just found out that tournament we are playing in this weekend is using full high-school rules, including unlimited stealing and dropped third, two things most of these girls have never seen before. While I understand the rules, I spent most of the club season explaining and re-explaining to the parents, so my guess is that it isn't going to be easy to teach the kids.

The kids need to understand the D3K rule far more than the parents. Focus on the kids, and pass out copies of the rule to the parents to read for themselves.

Further, the pitchers need to fully understand the "look back" rule, and to pay attention to the lead runner. Cover bases, and at least look like you're active and know what you're doing. You invite aggressive baserunning with lazy looking play and not paying attention. Typically, the best defense against the delayed steal is a quick and firm throw back to the pitcher with fielders moving to cover. Once the pitcher has the ball, the pressure is now on the runner to make a decision.

No fake throws from the circle or pitchers chasing runners around the infield; that will only create chaos. Pitcher catches return throw, keeps ball in glove, and visually checks runners. If she decides there is a play, then throw. If not, hold the ball. Sometimes, an overly aggressive team will get caught (and runner called out) for dancing around off the bases with the ball in circle.

WARRIORMIKE · May 24, 2016

dinogirl said:
I am assistant coach for a relatively inexperienced 12U town travel team. We just found out that tournament we are playing in this weekend is using full high-school rules, including unlimited stealing and dropped third, two things most of these girls have never seen before. While I understand the rules, I spent most of the club season explaining and re-explaining to the parents, so my guess is that it isn't going to be easy to teach the kids.

My daughter plays club and pitches and plays infield. She knows how to handle the rules offensively and defensively no problem. There is one other girl on the team in the same boat. After that there is another coach's daughter who is pretty with it and he'll make sure she gets it. The rest have no idea how to deal with dropped third, delayed steals, etc.

I know it won't be pretty, but any great ideas on how to give these girls some basic instruction on handling it? Offensively is fine -- we'll just have them run to first if they strikeout regardless of the situation. Defensively I am at a loss. Most of these girls don't even understand that they can get a double play on a caught fly with runners off the base.

I am considering putting my own daughter behind the plate to catch, even though she's not a catcher. Frankly, we don't really have a 'catcher' in that sense and at least she knows the rules. The other coach's daughter (also a pitcher) is happy to do the same when she's not pitching. Is this how you would play it or would you try to teach the rules to one of the less skilled girls who typically catch? I feel like it will be so overwhelming for them that they won't want to do it. Those girls typically drop 50% of all of the pitches, balls or strikes.

This is the only time we will face these rules this season. After that we start summer town travel with rules more appropriate for their skill level. So it's a one shot deal.

I fear it might be a blood bath regardless, but if anyone has any experience with transitioning girls to these rules, I'd love to hear something that worked!

Ok here it is. Use a code word to remind them of the D-3-K . Simple as that. Helps a lot at anytime of the game. Offense and defense. Example can be "trash can" So instead of yelling out. "Watch the Drop three." You can now yell out, "watch the trash can." Again you can use any term or word. This helps with our girls all the time. Even at 14U.

Coaches need to be alert on the rules too, or this wont help the girls out at all.

canyonjoe · May 24, 2016

On another note, I would seriously consider talking to your league or whatever and makes these rules permanent. Almost all 12U leagues play with real rules (with the exception of inning run rules). Even 10U in many leagues have D3K and most have full stealing.

Eric F · May 24, 2016

canyonjoe said:
On another note, I would seriously consider talking to your league or whatever and makes these rules permanent. Almost all 12U leagues play with real rules (with the exception of inning run rules). Even 10U in many leagues have D3K and most have full stealing.

Yep. The rec league we played in had full rules starting at 10U.

dinogirl · May 25, 2016

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am a former D1 player, so yes, I know the rules already.

This is my first year in our 12U league and I am only an assistant, so I had no idea about what rules were and were not in play. Honestly, I am not sure our head coaches even know how D3K works. We are pretty dialed down here. There is a higher flight in our league that plays full rules. I agree it would be best to crank it up a notch and teach them properly in practice (and develop a real catcher) but that is a long term issue. I have a short term one, because we are playing in two days! But after I figure out how in the world to deal with D3K with no practice time we'll have to deal with it in a real way, so all good information.

Thanks!

canyonjoe · May 25, 2016

Just have fun in the tournament and do the best you can. Most (not all) coaches are understanding and will not try and embarrass your team. The kids should be fine, it's the parents you might have to send for therapy

Tom · May 25, 2016

I would suggest that you make sure your parents (especially the more vocal ones) understand the D3K rule and when it applies. Below is an excerpt from my post about worst parents of the weekend where I saw a parent cost her team a game on what she thought was a D3K.

Away team up by 1, time expired, bottom of last inning, 1 out, runners on 1&2. Pitcher strikes out batter looking and catcher drops ball. This woman starts screaming (not yelling, but screaming like she's on fire) "throw it to first". Poor kid catching panics because of this and overthrows to RF foul territory and ball rolls a while before RF can get it. Both runners score, home team wins.

Also, if you are going to have your batter run to first every time, you need to make sure if there's a runner at first, that runner (& 1B coach) understand rule. In younger ages when batters would run regardless coach would have catcher throw to first (if runner on first) even if caught for K. A lot of the time when there was a runner on 1 she would see the batter running and the throw come and start towards second just to be picked off. I believe retired batter is also at risk of being called for interference if shes hit out of box running to 1B by pick-off attempt (double check me on that).

Crash course in dropped-third strike, full stealing 12U town travel

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