8u Travel ball defensive Stratgey

[Alex]

8u defensive strategy. So I am reading an article on the internet about defensive strategy at the 8u level.
8U Defensive Strategy For Coaching Youth Softball

After reading this article I disagree with some of the statements. It seems like the balls hit in the infield at a travel ball most the time are too hard for someone to field cleanly from the pitcher’s mound. It seems like letting the ball go to the short stop or second base would be much more beneficial than letting your pitcher making a diving catch that requires them to get back up and make the throw.
Also the author says the best player should be in rf but in travel ball when you face a solid 8u team they keeps LF, LCF and RCF busy.

I would love to hear someone’s input about this, what am I missing.

 

[marriard]

This article is about the only thing I agree with on that site and following this strategy won us a lot of games in 8U coach pitch. It works almost exactly as he has written the article.

In 8U - because it is coach pitch - your pitcher can be deeper, toward the back of the circle, to the power 'pull' side of the coach pitcher and in a defensive fielding stance so even against hard hitting teams they have a pretty good chance of fielding the ball and covering for a lot of balls that in older divisions would naturally be fielded by the shortstop. He is totally right that a huge amount of balls in 8U travel will be fielded by the pitcher and thrown to 1B.

For right handers, 2B has to cover as in older divisions, so that makes the position WAY more important than SS because of the pitcher already covering a bunch of the ground a traditional SS will cover and the out is an easier throw and must be made 99% of the time. Every time we failed to covert this easy out always seemed to led to the dreaded 'big inning'. The pitcher is only going to cover short hits in the right side in this scenario as they are going to be closer to the ball.

If you are not playing coach pitch, that is different.

 

[Alex]

in Dixie it works i know for sure I used it last year, but in travel ball it doesn't seem to translate since the older girls just crush the ball down the left field line or to LCF or line drive crush it through the ss it seems.

 

[marriard]

in Dixie it works i know for sure I used it last year, but in travel ball it doesn't seem to translate since the older girls just crush the ball down the left field line or to LCF or line drive crush it through the ss it seems.

Once we got to this level and we started facing recruited teams made up of 'bigger, older girls', we just moved to 10U where the pitcher doesn't want you to hit the ball and the 8U 'power swing' on a coach pitch meatball doesn't work very well.

Or you just change your strategy to a more regular defense when the 'big' girls are a bat.

I hated 8U. Couldn't move to real softball and see the back of it fast enough

 

[Alex]

yeah, I could definitely seeing moving up to avoid it.

 

[ArkFastpitch]

I'm not sure about 8u coach pitch but DD played 8u machine pitch TB and our most important position was probably 1st base because of all the errant throws. After that would have been a good catcher with a cannon for an arm to keep runners honest. In 8u it was almost guaranteed if your catcher couldn't make the throw, it became a stealathon and was guaranteed to always have a runner on 3rd within first 2 pitches. Next would be SS or 3rd. Both played so shallow that just about anything hit to that side of the field would be fielded before the pitcher could get to it. Lastly would be pitcher and 2nd (although still very important). Just my opinion from my own experiences..

 

[Blaze2007]

Who cares if you have a winning record at 8u. Who cares if they are not perfect. Good grief. Send that coach to MLB...(irony).

I don't really think OP was worried about a winning record was just looking for advice on responsibilities for coach pitch 8u... While true purpose of 8u is all about coaching the girls the fundamental of softball, he was looking for advice on what balls his pitcher should be playing.

 

[Alex]

I don't really think OP was worried about a winning record was just looking for advice on responsibilities for coach pitch 8u... While true purpose of 8u is all about coaching the girls the fundamental of softball, he was looking for advice on what balls his pitcher should be playing.

bingo.

Seems like one girl is trying to do to much when there is a SS and 2nd baseman to make those plays.

 

[Mocoso]

I completely disagree with the the article - from the title to the tone in which its written.. if the 7-8 yr old kids dont know how to catch or throw yet and they are being put into positions to hide them in then they shouldnt be doing travel ball to begin with... 8U travel ball is nothing but a $$$ machine for the coaches.. it may make sense for areas that dont have well established competitive rec leagues but in So Cal for example 8U travel is laughable.. those parents need a reality check...

At this age you should be DEVELOPING ALL THE PLAYERS not sticking them to one position...article written by someone that cares about winning and not developing players.. while it may be OK at higher age travel teams its a crappy way to coach 7-8yr olds...

The catcher being the worse player that shouldnt field is laughable as a lot of 8U divisions DO allow stealing and having a catcher that cant catch or throw makes for very slow games! If you dont develop the catcher at 8U when the heck are you going to develop them?

 

[Greenmonsters]

I don't think Herm Edwards was referring to 8U TB when making his emphatic "You play to win the game" statement.