The question is usually not whether the outfielder can throw the ball home on the fly, the key is whether or not she can throw it home "on a rope" so the base runner rounding first holds at first vs. taking second on a "rainbow" throw home. And to "hold" the runner at first you need a cutoff in place who COULD cut the ball off and throw the runner out at second.....
"hitting the cutoff"
- Thread starter sluggers
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
The question is usually not whether the outfielder can throw the ball home on the fly, the key is whether or not she can throw it home "on a rope" so the base runner rounding first holds at first vs. taking second on a "rainbow" throw home. And to "hold" the runner at first you need a cutoff in place who COULD cut the ball off and throw the runner out at second.....
- May 15, 2013
- 8
- 0
I think the term hit the " HIT THE CUTOFF" is often misused. I use the term "THROW THROUGH THE CUTOFF". If you teach the girls to field the ball and make the strongest/ most direct throw "THROUGH THE CUTOFF" then you are allowing the defense to adjust, and make the decision to cut or not.
Dont confuse cut with relay, they are different. And through the cut is correct imo. Mostly for plays at home, catcher will give commands to the cutter. If a ball is hit past the outfielder the middles are a relay, if hit in front they settle in the middle of the infield in the direction of the throw as a cut. they only cut if the catcher directs them to, or as said previously if its a weak or offline throw. I dont use first base as a cut.
