Is getting doubled off on a line drive bad luck -- or bad baserunning?

[RichK]

Or a bit of both.

We've been doubled off a few times in recent weeks in some bad spots. Overall, we teach to balance up after taking a strong lead, and finding the ball. But a line drive tends to get even less-aggressive girls leaning, and aggressive girls taking off.

We've been trying to talk about it being situational to some extent. If girl is likely to put ball on the ground (ie, a slapper), you can afford to be more aggressive. Line drive hitter, infield in, runner on third, be more careful.

BTW, this is 16U....so they need to think as much as react : >

What's the right balance between caution and aggressiveness?

 

[JAD]

How aggressive we want our base runners depends on the game situation, who the batter is, who the base runner is and who is pitching. Hitting into line drive double plays happens to everyone eventually, so you cannot get down on yourself when it happens. If you are not aggressive in firing off when the pitcher releases the ball, you are going to get runners thrown out who would have otherwise been safe, so it is a "catch 22", unless you have a crystal ball on what the batter is going to do.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I think it is bad luck. (Maybe you could kill a chicken or something.)

 

[David Carter]

Simply just one of those things that is going to happen and nothing you can do about it and still do everything else correctly.

Now it does matter exactly what you are talking about if the first baseman is playing a few steps off the bag and its a rocket and she takes two steps to first for the double OK.

If it is a screamer to SS and your runner at first is thrown out halfway between first and second that is a base running issue, she might still be out but she should be making sure the ball is through and not just running with her head down at contact.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Good communication and verbal cues are essential from the coach, that's his/her job to have a one word cue to alert the runner when the line shot is close. Do NOT use "no" and "go" as the cues, can't tell ya how many times I've seen girls get confused.

 

[starsnuffer]

Experience helps, so practicing it is good. It's also important to teach the baserunners how to break up a double play by using aggressive sliding and running position to mitigate the chance to get the batter out as much as possible.

More importantly, however, it is important to teach hitters how to hit to different areas of the field to avoid this altogether and for coaches to use small ball techniques to get the runner to scoring position before the batter hits.

-W

 

[cmustangsfp]

As a base coach, I see it as situational. If the score is close and time/innings are nearing the end, I become less aggressive. Early on in games or big leads either way, I become more aggressive.