Track stars

Sorry in advance for the long post but I need to be detailed. Here is the situation, 1st year 12u team playing a 2nd year 12u team. We are on defense and there is a girl on 2nd (courtesy runner). The girl on 2nd runs track and is extremely fast. Pitcher pitches the ball and the runner takes off and stops half way between 2nd and 3rd. If the catcher immediately/quickly throws back to pitcher then the runner takes off to 3rd and is safe easily. Both the catcher and the pitcher have decent arms, this girl was just insanely fast. If the catcher throws to 3rd then she starts a slow retreat to 2nd but as soon as 3rd throws to 2nd or pitcher she takes off again. We brought LF in to cover 3rd while our 3rd baseman was running her back to second. This created a loop that took a ton of time off the clock. We just kept going back and forth and it frustrated our girls to no end.

The obvious. We need to get faster, in both throwing and running. We need better timing of our throws when trying to get a runner in a pickle out.

Any advice on what to do defensively when that happens or what we should be practicing? We are a good team but not a great team and this girl on second was light speed faster than any of our girls.

Until you get quicker at it you can have catcher run out towards the runner. Have her hand ball to pitcher in the circle. At that point the runner has to go one way or the other.

The problem with this is that it takes a lot of the catcher.

Tried that. Catcher runs at her she slightly retreats to second, then as soon as the catcher hands the ball or tosses it to the pitcher she would break towards third again. The pitcher would throw it to 3rd and we start all over again. It was like we were stuck in a time loop.

Assuming pitcher is a good athlete have her run straight at runner and try and get her out if not just give her third.

If you have the lead, just throw it to third and have her hold the ball until the runner stays on second.

Longshot said:

The obvious. We need to get faster, in both throwing and running. We need better timing of our throws when trying to get a runner in a pickle out.

Any advice on what to do defensively when that happens or what we should be practicing? We are a good team but not a great team and this girl on second was light speed faster than any of our girls.

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There are two ways to play this:

There is the straightforward defense to this which is how we used to deal with this (by any sort of decent 14U softball, this sort of garbage is just an easy out - we will just swarm defenders in and make a throw and tag but not so simple at younger ages)

Move the pitcher to the 3rd base side of the circle and slightly towards the back of the circle. Catcher brings the ball out to the pitcher or gets it to the pitcher quickly who keeps the ball low. SS goes two steps third base side to the runner.
The runner now HAS to make a decision:
- If she breaks for third you throw her out. The throw is REALLY short at this point. This is a play you should be able to make.
- If she stands still she is out.
- If she does the slow move towards third, just throw it to the SS for the out (she should be moving with the runner so she is always 2 steps closer to 3rd than the runner)
- Otherwise she has to go back to second. As long as you don't attempt to make a play on her she is not permitted to change directions at this point or she is out.

Ok, if this doesn't work, there is the "I am not playing your stupid game" way of playing it.

Just throw the ball to the 3B and have her stand there with it. Don't chase the runner or make fake throws or play the stupid game the runner want you to play with her. Wait her out. Again, the pitcher is as close to the 3B player as possible. Be patient. If she isn't budging, have your 3B sit on the bag with the ball. Eventually her coach will either send or back or the runner and coach will start to look like idiots. Or perhaps the runner will make a mistake and stop paying attention and you can have a player sneak in behind her for an easy out... 3B only throws back to the Pitcher when the runner turns her back and is no longer looking at the ball - once the pitcher has the ball she does not need to make a play on the runner - because at this point if the runner changes direction, she is out.

If you do decide to walk her back to second, make sure you walk her the entire way, and then your fielder is standing next to her with the ball... big old fake throw to pitcher and tag her out. She will fall for it at least once.

What not to do:
What you were doing. Spend time running after the runner, making throws, have your catcher run her back to second, etc, etc.. Eventually you are going to make a mistake and she will end up scoring on a throwing or catching error. ONE THROW IS IDEAL.. TWO is the MOST you should make in this scenario.

Easiest solution I ever found was to have the catcher walk towards third as the pitcher walked about half way in on the third base side of the circle. Assuming the runner does not progress the catcher (who now has a much shorter throw to third if needed) makes a very short throw to the pitcher who walks back into the circle while watching the runner who is now forced into a decision as the pitcher approaches the rubber.

mmeece said:

Easiest solution I ever found was to have the catcher walk towards third as the pitcher walked about half way in on the third base side of the circle. Assuming the runner does not progress the catcher (who now has a much shorter throw to third if needed) makes a very short throw to the pitcher who walks back into the circle while watching the runner who is now forced into a decision as the pitcher approaches the rubber.

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That's a little bit of what I was thinking as well as having the pitcher pitch from the third base side of the circle. But I was thinking too that if it was me and I saw the runner trying to get that kind of lead off of second, I could throw to third.

But it seems like to me with two track stars on the opposing team that their trying to tire out the OP's team by making them run around trying to catch them.

Dd has a girl on her team that can hit a sacrifice to the fence, catch the ball, throw it home, catch the ball, and tag the runner out...lol! But seriously she is the fastest girl I have ever seen and gives opposing teams the fits. I have seen her mis bunt a few times back to the pitcher fairly hard and still beat the throw. Not much ya can do.

Another solution is to strike her out.

We would have our catcher steps towards the base runner. If the runner returns to 2B the catcher can give the ball back to the pitcher in the circle. If she does not return to the bag, have F4 or F6 cover 2B and walk the runner back towards the bag, then make a throw to the bag trying to get an out. You DO NOT want to create a situation of playing "monkey in the middle" throwing the ball back and forth multiple times between 2B and 3B. Walk the runner back close enough that it will be a bang-bang play at 2B.

Sidebar: teach your players how to "pump fake" to get the base runner to show her intentions without a throw. It also works great in a run down, getting the base runner to freeze or reverse direction.