18u DD Running, Hitting, and Steaing

[Jordan]

My DD’s season has officially ended. She just had her last tournament August 1st. She did pretty good this year. She had 23 steals out of 30ish games (she had the most steals on the team. The person with the 2nd most steals was the CF with 9) and was only caught stealing once. To celebrate her last tournament of the season I made a video of her stealing, hitting, and running. Sorry for the bad Audio and bad quality. Tell me what you think of the video.

 

[radness]

Nice! Good for her!
Thats a keepsake!

 

[Jordan]

Nice! Good for her!
Thats a keepsake!

Thanks. I’m trying to take as many videos of her as I can cause next year is her last year.

 

[AdamTheSoftballDad]

Oh wow from what I can see from the video your DD is pretty fast. Out of curiosity what’s her fastest time getting down the first baseline? I have a 17 year old DD and she is far from a speedster. We’ve been trying to work a lot on her speed recently cause she has the hitting power but she just doesn’t have the speed.

 

[Jordan]

Oh wow from what I can see from the video your DD is pretty fast. Out of curiosity what’s her fastest time getting down the first baseline? I have a 17 year old DD and she is far from a speedster.

Thanks. My DD’s fastest time that we’ve timed and recorded is 2.73. She usually runs in the 2.7-2.9 area during games. She does run in the 3.0-3.2 second range every now and then when she hits the ball far into the outfield and knows she doesn’t have to run as hard in order to be safe. Oh also what’s your DD’s fastest time to first?

 

[AdamTheSoftballDad]

Thanks. My DD’s fastest time that we’ve timed and recorded is 2.73. She usually runs in the 2.7-2.9 area during games. She does run in the 3.0-3.2 second range every now and then when she hits the ball far into the outfield and knows she doesn’t have to run as hard in order to be safe. Oh also what’s your DD’s fastest time to first?

Oh wow your DD is really fast. My DD’s definitely more on the power hitting side than the speed side. My dd used to run about 3.4-3.5 to first base but after a bit of training and weight loss we managed to get her time down to 3.2-3.3. She’s actually managed to steal a few bases! I doubt I’ll ever be able to get my DD down to the level of speed your DD is at but I’m gonna keep trying. My goal is to get her to 3.0-3.1. I’ve heard that it only gets harder from here and that getting under 3.0 is super hard and not all players will be able to get under 3.0 so if I can get my DD to at least a 3.1 than I’ll be happy. Oh also I have a question for you. What would you consider to be fast, average, and slow times for the 20 yard dash/ home to first?

 

[Big Daddy Michigan]

I like her speed, but she could be even more dangerous if she worked on her angles and was more aggressive.

She corners really wide on the second to home video, and she kind of cruises into first base on the first and last clip.

With her speed I'd be looking to challenge at all times, so breaking that cruising habit is important. Even when it's an obvious single if you are booking it occasionally you can get the OF to pick up her head to check if she's thinking about second & get her to misplay a ball, or even make a panic throw that goes awry.

You can't teach speed, baby. run, run, run

 

[Jordan]

I like her speed, but she could be even more dangerous if she worked on her angles and was more aggressive.

She corners really wide on the second to home video, and she kind of cruises into first base on the first and last clip.

With her speed I'd be looking to challenge at all times, so breaking that cruising habit is important. Even when it's an obvious single if you are booking it occasionally you can get the OF to pick up her head to check if she's thinking about second & get her to misplay a ball, or even make a panic throw that goes awry.

You can't teach speed, baby. run, run, run

Thanks for the advice. We’ve been working a lot on The wide turns and she’s gotten a lot better at turning. We’ve also been working on the cruising. My DD has the mentality of “if I’m gonna be safe I’ll just save my energy” and we’ve been working a lot on breaking that mentality and getting her to push herself even when she’s obviously safe. I’ve told her countless times “You’ve been blessed with speed so you might as well use it as much as you can” and I think that I’m finally starting to get through to her and breaking that energy saving mentality.

 

[Jordan]

What would you consider to be fast, average, and slow times for the 20 yard dash/ home to first?

Good job on the speed training. It definitely is hard to get under that 3.0 mark. I didn't really have to do any speed training with 3/4 of my DD’s. However, we did have to do speed training with our oldest DD (21yr). we got her to 3.07 and then the training sort of plateaued and to this day she still hasn’t but been able to break 3.0. However, that doesn’t mean to give up cause your DD might be able to break that barrier but don’t be disappointed if she doesn’t cause 3.1-3.3 honestly Isn’t slow. Oh also here is my list for what I consider fast, average, and slow.

Super slow: 3.8-4.0+ (Speed training is necessary)
Slow: 3.6-3.7 (You can get away with running this slow if you’re hitting home runs a ton)
Pretty slow: 3.4-3.5 (speed training isn’t necessary if the girl is hitting super far into the outfield but it is greatly recommended)
Average: 3.1-3.3 ( A nice average speed. At this speed you can steal every now and then and you don’t have to hit super far in order to get on base)
Quick: 3.0 (A nice quick speed. You can steal quite a bit at this speed and can get doubles on hits that are hit into the outfield pretty easily)
Fast: 2.9-3.0 (it’s a huge achievement if a player gets under 3.0. It takes a lot of speed. Genetics play a big role in deciding who can run faster than 3.0. These girls will tend to be the speedsters of some mid teams and most lower level teams. These girls can be a decent threat bunting and can beat out throws to first that would get most other girls out)
Really Fast: 2.8-2.90 (At this level of speed it’s nearly impossible to catch these girls stealing. These girls will tend to be the fastest on some high level teams and most mid level teams. These girls are a big threat bunting and slap hitting and have the ability to make up for bad hits by beating out the throw to first. These girls have a good chance of turning a ground ball in the infield into a single by beating the throw)
Elite Speed: 2.79 and under (At this speed these girls are monsters on the basepath and will steal whenever they get the chance and the chances of getting them stealing are slim. These girls have most likely been the fastest on every team they’ve ever been on. These girls are usually the fastest players on the elite level teams. Good luck trying to get these girls bunting and slapping. These girls can turn a ground ball in the infield that is usually suicide for most players into a single by beating out the throw.)
A Literal Bullet: 2.5 (This is a speed that is basically impossible for anyone but Caitlin Lowe. At this speed you will most likely be the fastest person on the Olympic softball team.)

Of course all these times depend on how a person times the girls. For example some people time the girls from first step and timing like that they can get times like 2.1 and 2.3 (I personally hate this style of timing cause that first step adds a lot of time and not adding it can turn a 2.8 into a 2.4 but that’s just my opinion) Of course I’m not expert on this and am mainly using my experience as a parent and assistant coach to make this list. I would recommend to start timing people and gathering your own information in order to make your own list of what you consider fast, average, and slow.

 

[radness]

Good job on the speed training. It definitely is hard to get under that 3.0 mark. I didn't really have to do any speed training with 3/4 of my DD’s. However, we did have to do speed training with our oldest DD (21yr). we got her to 3.07 and then the training sort of plateaued and to this day she still hasn’t but been able to break 3.0. However, that doesn’t mean to give up cause your DD might be able to break that barrier but don’t be disappointed if she doesn’t cause 3.1-3.3 honestly Isn’t slow. Oh also here is my list for what I consider fast, average, and slow.

Super slow: 3.8-4.0+ (Speed training is necessary)
Slow: 3.6-3.7 (You can get away with running this slow if you’re hitting home runs a ton)
Pretty slow: 3.4-3.5 (speed training isn’t necessary if the girl is hitting super far into the outfield but it is greatly recommended)
Average: 3.1-3.3 ( A nice average speed. At this speed you can steal every now and then and you don’t have to hit super far in order to get on base)
Quick: 3.0 (A nice quick speed. You can steal quite a bit at this speed and can get doubles on hits that are hit into the outfield pretty easily)
Fast: 2.9-3.0 (it’s a huge achievement if a player gets under 3.0. It takes a lot of speed. Genetics play a big role in deciding who can run faster than 3.0. These girls will tend to be the speedsters of some mid teams and most lower level teams. These girls can be a decent threat bunting and can beat out throws to first that would get most other girls out)
Really Fast: 2.8-2.90 (At this level of speed it’s nearly impossible to catch these girls stealing. These girls will tend to be the fastest on some high level teams and most mid level teams. These girls are a big threat bunting and slap hitting and have the ability to make up for bad hits by beating out the throw to first. These girls have a good chance of turning a ground ball in the infield into a single by beating the throw)
Elite Speed: 2.79 and under (At this speed these girls are monsters on the basepath and will steal whenever they get the chance and the chances of getting them stealing are slim. These girls have most likely been the fastest on every team they’ve ever been on. These girls are usually the fastest players on the elite level teams. Good luck trying to get these girls bunting and slapping. These girls can turn a ground ball in the infield that is usually suicide for most players into a single by beating out the throw.)
A Literal Bullet: 2.5 (This is a speed that is basically impossible for anyone but Caitlin Lowe. At this speed you will most likely be the fastest person on the Olympic softball team.)

Of course all these times depend on how a person times the girls. For example some people time the girls from first step and timing like that they can get times like 2.1 and 2.3 (I personally hate this style of timing cause that first step adds a lot of time and not adding it can turn a 2.8 into a 2.4 but that’s just my opinion) Of course I’m not expert on this and am mainly using my experience as a parent and assistant coach to make this list. I would recommend to start timing people and gathering your own information in order to make your own list of what you consider fast, average, and slow.

Good Read !