Live pitching and hitting in practices

I'd love to hear how to do this on a field (or fields) without slowing down practice or have kids standing around. Be as specific as possible. I'm happy to buy screens, etc. anything to make this work better on an open field (ie, not in a cage). TKS.

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There are some excellent practice scenarios listed here.
One thing I would add is how we do live pitching as a station - Pitcher set up near home, catcher with back-up screen set up near circle and batter hits to backstop

obbay said:

There are some excellent practice scenarios listed here.
One thing I would add is how we do live pitching as a station - Pitcher set up near home, catcher with back-up screen set up near circle and batter hits to backstop

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Whoever owns that field must hate you. That's alot of balls being hit directly into the fencing at close range.

iddave said:

I coach a 10U team. I'm not sure what to do.

I know they need to see live pitches, but my girls throw MAYBE 50% strikes so it really slows practice down if I let them pitch. Additionally, one of my girls throws in the mid 40s and is wild as a March hare. She hits about every third batter, which of course makes the hitters scared to dig in and swing away and seems counter-productive overall.

I pitch to them and I can throw strikes with approximate 10U speed,...but not if I wind up.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Dave

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Jugs lite flite pitching machine w/battery pack

We bought one for this year and I couldn't be happier with it. We use it for all kinds of drills plus hitting. For the catchers we use for blocking and receiving drills. Outfielders use it for pop ups and play 500. We do a lot of bunting with it. The lite flite balls take away the fear the little ones have. They love throwing on their helmets and trying to head a flyball.


I do not enjoy practices when we hit live but we do it. I have a net set up next to the batter. One coach there hitting a ball when the batter misses. I have a t and a net set up for 1 girl while she waits to hit. We have girls on the bases working on leads and base running. We use softies and every hitter gets a full ab. No outfield.