covering a bunt

[ILcoach]

At the 12U level, do you feel it is necessary for both 3B and 1B to charge a bunt? If I have athletic, good fielding pitchers, can P, C and 3B cover all ground, which keeps my 1B at first?

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

At the 12U level, do you feel it is necessary for both 3B and 1B to charge a bunt? If I have athletic, good fielding pitchers, can P, C and 3B cover all ground, which keeps my 1B at first?

I actually still do this a lot with my first year 14u team. I am blessed with athletic pitchers that can cover the ground and make the throws.

 

[quincy]

That is my preferred method but it does lead to hole in the field. The 1st has a relatively hard throw to 1st anyways and the Player is at 1st for a reason.

It is easy enough to change latter if it doesn’t work out for you.

Ideally you would have 2 plays 1 where 1st stays home, 2nd where she charges.

 

[JAD]

I would make this decision based on two criteria - 1) how athletic is your pitcher? If your pitcher is a good fielder and can cover the 1st base line it opens up your options. 2) How big is your 2B? We used to have a 5'-10" 1B and a 4'2" 2B, so keeping the 1B back on a bunt gave us a MUCH BIGGER target to throw to, plus our 1B was not very fleet of foot, so she had trouble covering bunts regardless. Having a good defensive catcher who can cover 8-10' in front of the plate also helps.

An option for a batter you know is going to bunt is to pull your 2B in and push your 1B back. It allows your better fielder (typically 2B) to field the bunt and throw to a bigger target (1B). We also pull our RF in to cover bloop hits. This leaves you vulnerable to a big hit over RF, so use this defense wisely.

 

[Carly]

Anything could work, but a good team will realize your 1B isn't crashing and start bunting to her. If she doesn't crash, she should at least play in and be prepared to field the ball, and only drop back into coverage once she sees it's safe to do so.

 

[joeman39]

You better add in if you have a left handed pitcher.... If you keep your 1st base back and use your lefty pitcher covering first base line you will have trouble. It's tough for the lefty on that 1st base line.

 

[Indiana]

I've seen teams use 2nd base, as JAD suggested. They use it with a known bunter or undersized hitter with pretty good success. I like the RF coming in - I've seen undersized hitters bloop it out there when the infield is squeezing in.

 

[Greenmonsters]

How is the 1B ever going to get better if all that is practiced is a work around designed to minimize her weaknesses? Just saying, teach your players the right way to do things so they can develop and improve, and resort to work arounds and gimmicks as a last resort if you must.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

How is the 1B ever going to get better if all that is practiced is a work around designed to minimize her weaknesses? Just saying, teach your players the right way to do things so they can develop and improve, and resort to work arounds and gimmicks as a last resort if you must.

I dont think there is a "right" way to do it , only the "traditional way" of doing it. If you have to have a variation in order to put your team in the best situation to succeed , then I believe you have to do it. I dont have a team of future college softball players. I just have a team of girls trying to compete.

 

[CoachScott]

I agree with Cyclone.

It's all going to come down to what you and your athletes are most comfortable with and gets you your desired results most of the time and that's the out.

I've played it both ways depending on who was pitching and who was on first. Both ways refers to "traditional" 1st and 3rd charge and the other Pitcher covers 1st side. We practice both, go with most comfortable and productive.

Never tried the second basement. Food for thought, thanks!