The Value of Infield Hitting/Practice

One of the major practice issues with my 16U team last year was our infield hitting/defense (the traditional, put everyone at their position, hit through the positions, varying up the scenarios, etc.). It was a common remark that we wasted too much time through this and got not as many reps. as we would have liked to as a team.

Then I came across this link from USA Softball back in January/February: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDwFdR4gluQ

I fell in love with this because I felt it could easily get my girls more repetition in practice compared to our basic infield hitting I deemed it the "Rapid Fire" drill for my team because we're focusing on technique and getting repetition in a short amount of time. In 2 practices, the girls really, really enjoy it - they like the fast-paced speed (I'm still working on my timing between rolls) and we're getting better at talking to one another and paying attention to "when do I need to be up to catch a throw", etc. One or two shots to a leg got people's attention pretty quickly, especially for a team of young players.

My question - should I still be incorporating some form of infield hitting practice with them? We have yet to establish who's playing where, which I why I like the "Rapid Fire" drill because it works EVERYONE on the same basics (whether an infielder or outfielder). We wasted a LOT of time last year on hitting for defense, whereas I could've used this time for other drills.

This is what we do. Buckets, buckets buckets. We rarely do "fungo". We work buckets at each position. Incorporate forehands, backhand, darts, feeds and tosses. Turn two's, etc. This builds the fundaments as well as works the positions.

We use fungo to work defense for power slapping and defense with runners.

That's what I'd like to do - IF I can find more balls. A friend of mine whose daughter does 16U TB got me 2 dozen balls for $50 from a tournament, so I have 24 softballs and I'm looking for more. Not many TB tournaments around my area. eBay has some but they're outrageously priced (30 balls for $15 + $25 shipping? Seems strange to me). If anyone knows where I can find cheap, used 12" fast-pitch softballs, it would be most appreciated.

We do what is shown in the video in the OP but do so much more. Yes, we take infield. We have three types. One is traditional infield that we use to wrap up infield practice. We have a series called double infield that I created a very long time ago. Two balls are always in play in that one. We have multiple infield as well where we get a lot of work in similar to double infield but a little different. We also have a segment of practice where we work on angles and a part of infield practice where we line fielders up in a fielding line with, for example, four lines and four players hitting infield to their section of the line. Naturally, they rotate and so, everyone does every position.

While I like what is done in the video as its fast paced and gets a lot of reps in. But make sure you do lots of infield and outfield practice with base runners. For example, runner on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out scenarios, making sure all the players know their assignments. Remember the 3 "B''s" (get Ball, cover Base, or Back-up play) You want to do lots of repetition so in the game it becomes very natural to make the correct play. There are no short cuts in playing defense well.

That's all correct, and all things I go over with my girls. For right now, I'm just focused on getting them the technique down so they have that ability to change based on the play. We've only had 2 practices, so right now it's more about "how do we position ourselves to stop a ground ball at us, away from us, backhand, rake through, one hop, etc." Then we can worry about putting runners into play. The fast-paced reps and getting more reps in is my initial goal - my team is very young (5 of my 11 girls are 12 or 13, and this is a 16U league), so the more reps. I can get with the girls, the better. I'm also working with my younger girls on not being afraid of the ball when fielding 1-hops - (lifting their leg instead of getting a glove in place, etc).

Bucket drills are great for reps etc but it's also important for the girls to see/react to balls hit off a bat too. Split 1/2 the girls at short rest at second have 2 people alternate hitting girls at ss throw to 1st girls at second throw to 3rd. Batters stand down the lines near 1st and 3rd. Batter near third hits to girls at 2nd

Once my assistant coach comes back from college, then that's definitely something we can do. It's not that I'm not firing off grounders at them hard enough, but there's definitely a difference between my 28-year-old arm and a 33" DeMarini bat with a 60mph pitch.