Pitchers Backing Up Bases

Pitcher stays in the middle of the feild, around the circle area in order to facilitate throws from the OF and play cut-off from the OF to home. Since OFER should be taught to throw 2 bases ahead of the lead runner, an OFER should be automatically throwing to home with few exceptions when BRs on second. The first exception is when the ball is hit deep. Then they should be hitting the cut-off from the SS or F4 position and the P becomes a back-up player. Otherwise, the OFer should be throwing home on a rope at just above arm's reach level of the pitcher to HP. A properly trained catcher should be moving the pitcher in line with the throw to cut it off if necessary and tell them where to throw in order to have the best chance to get the out. I train my catchers to yell at the pitcher either left or right in order to get them in-line with the throw to home. If it's a cut play since the BR will make it home without issue, they may yell something along the lines of, " Cut 2, Cut 2!" This tells my pitcher to cut the ball and throw to 2nd base, hopefully getting the out. Other Scenarios are obvious I believe and this is just one of them.

The F3 should be dropping down to cover HP since there will be no play at first when the Catcher vacated HP. For every step the Catcher makes away from HP, F3 should be taking 2-3 towards it as a general rule.

justanotherguy said:

Admittedly, I and my DD come from baseball. ANY hit to the right side of the field has the pitcher automatically heading towards 1b then stopping or continuing upon assessment of the play unfolding. Since 1b is one of my DD's main positions, this is also a very big thought and concern of mine that I don't see her coaches teaching. My DD is not the "big" girl that plays first and can't move, she's quite athletic. I have always instructed her 3 steps, then it's 2b's problem. If she takes those 3 steps and makes a great play, I still expect the pitcher to be there for the throw. I'd very much like real confirmation on this though and whether I'm stuck in a BB mindset or correct.

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You are stuck in BB mindset.

With 60' bases, it is much quicker for 2B to get to 1B so the P is not needed on the right side for hits to the right side or balls the 1B fields. In fact if you look where the P ends up after release, there is NO WAY for them to get to 1B before even a medium speed runner. So in this case, forget the P being there - in softball it is the 2B who needs to get there when 1B fields a ball.

Also with the shorter infield, angles and pitching distances, a ball hit hard outside of 1 step either way of the pitcher is better fielded by the 2B or SS - it comes back so quickly if the P reaches for it is more likely to be a deflection.

As for P outfield backups, there are multiple ways - our pitchers backup 3B or home depending on the hit on her HS team, but we previously also have rotated 1B to home if there is not a runner on 1B (so on a clear double or triple to LF/CF there is no reason 1B can't rotate down to home) and in travel generally our P's just hang around the circle for line up for possible cuts. On other hits the P moves to backup the outfield throw but remains near the circle for cutoffs and to quickly get the play killed.

SBmom8992 said:

I probably should have clarified that my question is related moreso around balls hit to the OF.


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I wasn't clear but I think you have it mostly covered. Generally you just want them to patrol the infield for a stray throw if they are actively backing up an extra base hit and the objective is just to put themselves in the area to avoid giving away an extra base. I wasn't clear about hits to RF. I have the P patrol the area between the mound and 1B line (catcher would have outside the line). This way they are always kind of looking to keep in the play.

At one point I actually diagrammed in Word every situation for outfield hits and appropriate coverage. There are a ton, too many or kids. You can combine them to about 8-12 give or take, I made a PowerPoint (kind of like and in-motion) and it was worth it for many of the kids.

Our DD backs up all over the infield. Her dad always taught her, whatever is going on, know where you can go to back someone up. So once the ball is in play she's in motion if there is anyplace for her to go. She's never had a coach tell her not to do that. Mostly they seem to like it.

Every player including the pitcher should be doing one of the three things on every batted ball.

Going to field the ball
covering a base
going to back up someone else.

chinamigarden said:

Every player including the pitcher should be doing one of the three things on every batted ball.

Going to field the ball
covering a base
going to back up someone else.

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Yep. I prioritize it like this...

Infield (including P) - Ball, Base, Backup
Outfield - Ball - Backup, Base

My 2 cents.

When the ball is hit into the outfield, the P is the backup at third and home. 1B is the cutoff for any throws home.

spleen1015 said:

My 2 cents.

When the ball is hit into the outfield, the P is the backup at third and home. 1B is the cutoff for any throws home.

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Yep. This is how we’ve done it.