Wonder what 2nd baseman would have done if told to never throw to 3rd. I can picture the coach yelling at her to throw the ball and her standing with the ball looking at him yelling 'WHERE?'....LOL.
Never throw to 3rd?
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Wonder what 2nd baseman would have done if told to never throw to 3rd. I can picture the coach yelling at her to throw the ball and her standing with the ball looking at him yelling 'WHERE?'....LOL.
Fortunately, we have coaches that explain why and how plays develop so the kids can think for themselves. I don't think they could have thought of that scenario, let alone practiced it. The coaches mantra is, "Don't be satisfied with one out, always look for the second one".
Seems silly for a coach to say, doesn't it?
- May 11, 2009
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I started to implement something new to us that most of you probably already do and it worked 5 times this year. Runners on 1 & 2......no or one out. On a bunt we get the out at first no matter what. Runners on 1 & 2 are advancing to 2 and 3 so we fire to 3 hard after the out at 1. The runner will typically round the base to face the play. As she rounds the base for the most part the ball is on the way and she is left in no man's land. We do this with a runner on 1 only as well. A bunt is laid down we take the out at 1 and throw hard to 2. We practiced it a lot and our outfielders are in place to back up an arrant throw. It worked 5 times this year and it is a huge motivational thing for our team and a fairly deflating thing for the opposing team.
So in this scenario I am having the 2nd baseman throw to 3rd since she is covering first base on a bunt. Now on a hard hit ball I am going for the out at one. We have lost a lot of games by trying to force throws and the ball gets away from us with no back up on quick plays.
I have never claimed to be a good coach but I also always tell my girls to "Never be afraid to make a mistake". This keeps them playing as loose as they can. I will bark at them when they do make a mistake but I follow it up with some encouragement and it seems to work for us.
So in this scenario I am having the 2nd baseman throw to 3rd since she is covering first base on a bunt. Now on a hard hit ball I am going for the out at one. We have lost a lot of games by trying to force throws and the ball gets away from us with no back up on quick plays.
I have never claimed to be a good coach but I also always tell my girls to "Never be afraid to make a mistake". This keeps them playing as loose as they can. I will bark at them when they do make a mistake but I follow it up with some encouragement and it seems to work for us.
- Oct 25, 2009
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Excellent! And the key is to practice like that!
Fans used to yell out all the time when my DD threw behind a runner to "not throw behind the runner". I told her "no guts, no glory." She was successful with it most of the time; especially when the bases were loaded. She would throw to 1st (because 1st base runner always leads off too far when the bases are loaded) and several times they got the runner at 1st and the runner at 3rd when she broke for home. She even did it twice with a runner at 2nd and 3rd. She threw behind the runner at 2nd and our superstar ss got the runner coming home--twice.
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Never throw behind the runner. Unless you are running a pick off play. We train our girls to throw behind the runner if she is trying to be cute. But there can be no hisitation. It's Bang! Bang! play. Works all the time.
we throw behind the runner all the time. they don't even think about it, the throw is automatic, bang bang!
- Jan 31, 2011
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What age group are you guys talking?
mkral, I know yours and that is a cool play. Kids love that stuff when it works! I bet they are pretty focused in practice, too, if they can learn something new like that. Gotta watch out for those Nitro coaches! LOL.
