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This is an article that was featured as a training article in the ASA's Fastpitch Delivery Newspaper.
I hope you find it useful.
Coach Hal Sneaky Softball Pitching | Unconventional Tactics to Dominate Hitters
PITCHER / BATTER SELF-DEFENSE DRILLS ã 1999,2001
Pitchers get hit by line drives and screaming one hoppers. Batters get hit by wild inside pitches. This is always a concern at every level of play.
The key to big improvements in these types of injuries does not lie in extending the pitching distances. It lies in improving the reaction time of the players.
Major improvements in reaction times, to self-defense situations, comes with experience. Experience in identifying and reacting to a self-defense situation can ONLY be accomplished by placing the student in the very same self-defense situation many times.
A 5 year old martial arts student can be trained to have very quick self-defense reactions to an attack, coming from a person, from as little as 2' away. They react quickly to the attack because they have had experience defending themselves in that exact same situation. They gained that experience by being placed in the exact same self-defense situation many times, by their instructor, at their practice sessions.
A batter and pitcher can also be trained to have very quick reactions to an attack, coming from a softball, from 35' to 46' away. However, batters and pitchers are seldom put in that EXACT same situation in their practice sessions. They do not have the experience dealing with the self-defense situation, therefore, they do not react well, they react too late or they do not react at all.
The pitcher is directly in line with the center of the playing field and is the closest fielder to the batter, therefore, they have the least amount of reaction time to a ball hit back at them.
When the ball is hit, at that instant, the pitcher is the ONLY infielder that is NOT in a down, set and ready defensive posture / stance. The other infielders are already in their defensive stance, down, set and ready.
The pitcher has just finished throwing the pitch and, at the moment the ball is hit, probably still has a little forward momentum / travel going on, is still a little off balance and is standing up. I think it is safe to say the pitcher has everything going against them as far as self-defense is concerned.
These are all contributing factors to pitchers being hit. Despite these things going against them, there is one simple fact that cannot be denied; If they had reacted in time, they would not have gotten hit or at least might have deflected the ball a little and not gotten hit so hard.
The key word here is REACT.
You train your infielders to react to a line drive or a fast one hopper. They don't have to decide what to do, they just react and defend themselves because they have been through that exact same situation hundreds of times at practice. Drilling your pitcher while she is in a down, set and ready position, like a 3rd baseman, is good and will surely help a little. However, this is NOT a realistic game situation for pitchers that will have to defend themselves at the very end of their pitch, an instant after delivering the pitch.
If you think moving the pitching distance back 5' will make a tremendous amount of difference for a pitcher/batter that does not react well now, it probably won't. The ones that get hit the hardest and hurt the worst are not the ones that did not have time to react, that is not the case. They are the players that failed to react AT ALL, in the amount of time they had!
If a coach thinks training their pitchers to defend themselves, like they were a 3rd baseman, is doing everything they can to help prevent injuries, they are sadly mistaken.
The overwhelming majority of the responsibility to keep our pitchers and batters safe falls onto the shoulders of the parents, coaches and instructors of softball players. This same responsibility is exactly where it has always been, before any pitching distance rule changes were made. We must change what the players do from a decision to a reaction.
TEACH THEM TO REACT AT PRACTICE AND THEY WILL REACT IN THE GAME!
Here are a few drills to help train your pitchers and batters in a more realistic self-defense game situation.
For pitchers;
1. Have them pitch to their catcher at practice. Stand just outside the batter's box and fire a woffle ball back at them with a tennis racquet, just as fast as a hit ball would be and at the same exact time it would be hit by the batter. Make it a random thing, just like the game. Don't fire one back with every pitch, make it a surprise attack just like the game. Chest, waist, knees and one-hoppers. Swing the racquet sidearm so the ball comes back from the same level as a hit ball would come.
2. Stand about ten feet in front and just to the side of the pitcher and throw a woofle ball back at them sidearm to duplicate the same thing. Again, make this random and throw to all areas of the body.
3. Set up a pitching machine just to the outside of the batter's box, one that can fire woffle balls. Do the exact same thing. Leave the lock downs loose for the left/right and up/down adjustments so you can fire them at their chest, waist, knees, one hoppers, etc.
4. This drill will not exactly duplicate the game situation but it is great for developing hand to eye coordination for pitchers that must defend themselves while they are still in motion.
Have your pitcher doing a back and forth jogging type of motion on a small single person trampoline.
Make sure they have at least some side-to-side motion. Fire the woffle balls at them as they are jogging and in motion. Make them defend themselves while they are moving, just like they will have to do in a real game situation. (This is also a great drill for ALL the infielders to help develop quick eyes and hands for defense AND self-defense.)
Have the pitcher throw to a strike zone on a concrete wall, from a much closer distance than their regulation distance. The ball will hit the wall and come back quickly. This can also help train them to get into the defensive position quickly. You will have to judge the distance from the wall by the return speed of the ball. Try and find the right distance that will closely simulate the speed of a returning line drive. Start off at nearly regulation distance and move up while trying to maintain the same pitching speed.
Now, for the batters, here is what I do to prepare them for wild inside pitches during the game.
When I pitch batting practice, I throw from a bucket of balls. The bucket is to my side, sitting on a chair.
Mixed in with the softballs are 2 softball sized woffle balls. When I grab another ball I secret it into my glove so the batter does not know what type of ball is coming. At random, I will pull out a woffle ball and intentionally throw RIGHT AT the batter. I make it a big surprise and I force them to react and deal with the self-defense situation. I place them in the exact same situation they will face in the game.
I do this as a test to make sure they react as taught and to make sure they react PERIOD. I also do it to give them experience dealing with a wild inside pitch.
To start this training for very young and beginning batters; Stand, or sit on a bucket, about 15 feet in front of them and pitch woffle balls to them overhand at about half the normal pitching speed. (Half the speed at half the distance equals roughly the same amount of time to react). Throw strikes, balls and throw right at them, mix these up constantly. Tell them to swing at strikes, do not swing at balls and react when they know the ball is coming at them. This will get them used to realizing they MUST quickly
identify and react to the self-defense situation.
As a side note on this subject; I have seen a good portion of young batters get hit because it seemed they could not decide what to do with their bat. I have also seen batters react fairly well and in time, however, the ball still hit the bat and then hit the batter in the face. My advice on this is simple, DROP THE BAT, LET GO OF IT, FORGET ABOUT IT! I would much rather have a bat drop on my foot than a 50mph ball in the face that has ricocheted off my bat.
Teaching/training the players to react is the ONLY answer for a big reduction in these types of injuries.
I urge every parent/coach/instructor to duplicate the exact same self-defense situations, in practice, that our players will encounter when it happens in their games.Evaluate every player.
You might be very surprised at how poorly or how late some of your players react. You might get very worried to see how many of your players do not react AT ALL.
A trip to the ER takes all the fun out of the game. Let's keep the game safe AND fun!
I hope you find it useful.
Coach Hal Sneaky Softball Pitching | Unconventional Tactics to Dominate Hitters
PITCHER / BATTER SELF-DEFENSE DRILLS ã 1999,2001
Pitchers get hit by line drives and screaming one hoppers. Batters get hit by wild inside pitches. This is always a concern at every level of play.
The key to big improvements in these types of injuries does not lie in extending the pitching distances. It lies in improving the reaction time of the players.
Major improvements in reaction times, to self-defense situations, comes with experience. Experience in identifying and reacting to a self-defense situation can ONLY be accomplished by placing the student in the very same self-defense situation many times.
A 5 year old martial arts student can be trained to have very quick self-defense reactions to an attack, coming from a person, from as little as 2' away. They react quickly to the attack because they have had experience defending themselves in that exact same situation. They gained that experience by being placed in the exact same self-defense situation many times, by their instructor, at their practice sessions.
A batter and pitcher can also be trained to have very quick reactions to an attack, coming from a softball, from 35' to 46' away. However, batters and pitchers are seldom put in that EXACT same situation in their practice sessions. They do not have the experience dealing with the self-defense situation, therefore, they do not react well, they react too late or they do not react at all.
The pitcher is directly in line with the center of the playing field and is the closest fielder to the batter, therefore, they have the least amount of reaction time to a ball hit back at them.
When the ball is hit, at that instant, the pitcher is the ONLY infielder that is NOT in a down, set and ready defensive posture / stance. The other infielders are already in their defensive stance, down, set and ready.
The pitcher has just finished throwing the pitch and, at the moment the ball is hit, probably still has a little forward momentum / travel going on, is still a little off balance and is standing up. I think it is safe to say the pitcher has everything going against them as far as self-defense is concerned.
These are all contributing factors to pitchers being hit. Despite these things going against them, there is one simple fact that cannot be denied; If they had reacted in time, they would not have gotten hit or at least might have deflected the ball a little and not gotten hit so hard.
The key word here is REACT.
You train your infielders to react to a line drive or a fast one hopper. They don't have to decide what to do, they just react and defend themselves because they have been through that exact same situation hundreds of times at practice. Drilling your pitcher while she is in a down, set and ready position, like a 3rd baseman, is good and will surely help a little. However, this is NOT a realistic game situation for pitchers that will have to defend themselves at the very end of their pitch, an instant after delivering the pitch.
If you think moving the pitching distance back 5' will make a tremendous amount of difference for a pitcher/batter that does not react well now, it probably won't. The ones that get hit the hardest and hurt the worst are not the ones that did not have time to react, that is not the case. They are the players that failed to react AT ALL, in the amount of time they had!
If a coach thinks training their pitchers to defend themselves, like they were a 3rd baseman, is doing everything they can to help prevent injuries, they are sadly mistaken.
The overwhelming majority of the responsibility to keep our pitchers and batters safe falls onto the shoulders of the parents, coaches and instructors of softball players. This same responsibility is exactly where it has always been, before any pitching distance rule changes were made. We must change what the players do from a decision to a reaction.
TEACH THEM TO REACT AT PRACTICE AND THEY WILL REACT IN THE GAME!
Here are a few drills to help train your pitchers and batters in a more realistic self-defense game situation.
For pitchers;
1. Have them pitch to their catcher at practice. Stand just outside the batter's box and fire a woffle ball back at them with a tennis racquet, just as fast as a hit ball would be and at the same exact time it would be hit by the batter. Make it a random thing, just like the game. Don't fire one back with every pitch, make it a surprise attack just like the game. Chest, waist, knees and one-hoppers. Swing the racquet sidearm so the ball comes back from the same level as a hit ball would come.
2. Stand about ten feet in front and just to the side of the pitcher and throw a woofle ball back at them sidearm to duplicate the same thing. Again, make this random and throw to all areas of the body.
3. Set up a pitching machine just to the outside of the batter's box, one that can fire woffle balls. Do the exact same thing. Leave the lock downs loose for the left/right and up/down adjustments so you can fire them at their chest, waist, knees, one hoppers, etc.
4. This drill will not exactly duplicate the game situation but it is great for developing hand to eye coordination for pitchers that must defend themselves while they are still in motion.
Have your pitcher doing a back and forth jogging type of motion on a small single person trampoline.
Make sure they have at least some side-to-side motion. Fire the woffle balls at them as they are jogging and in motion. Make them defend themselves while they are moving, just like they will have to do in a real game situation. (This is also a great drill for ALL the infielders to help develop quick eyes and hands for defense AND self-defense.)
Have the pitcher throw to a strike zone on a concrete wall, from a much closer distance than their regulation distance. The ball will hit the wall and come back quickly. This can also help train them to get into the defensive position quickly. You will have to judge the distance from the wall by the return speed of the ball. Try and find the right distance that will closely simulate the speed of a returning line drive. Start off at nearly regulation distance and move up while trying to maintain the same pitching speed.
Now, for the batters, here is what I do to prepare them for wild inside pitches during the game.
When I pitch batting practice, I throw from a bucket of balls. The bucket is to my side, sitting on a chair.
Mixed in with the softballs are 2 softball sized woffle balls. When I grab another ball I secret it into my glove so the batter does not know what type of ball is coming. At random, I will pull out a woffle ball and intentionally throw RIGHT AT the batter. I make it a big surprise and I force them to react and deal with the self-defense situation. I place them in the exact same situation they will face in the game.
I do this as a test to make sure they react as taught and to make sure they react PERIOD. I also do it to give them experience dealing with a wild inside pitch.
To start this training for very young and beginning batters; Stand, or sit on a bucket, about 15 feet in front of them and pitch woffle balls to them overhand at about half the normal pitching speed. (Half the speed at half the distance equals roughly the same amount of time to react). Throw strikes, balls and throw right at them, mix these up constantly. Tell them to swing at strikes, do not swing at balls and react when they know the ball is coming at them. This will get them used to realizing they MUST quickly
identify and react to the self-defense situation.
As a side note on this subject; I have seen a good portion of young batters get hit because it seemed they could not decide what to do with their bat. I have also seen batters react fairly well and in time, however, the ball still hit the bat and then hit the batter in the face. My advice on this is simple, DROP THE BAT, LET GO OF IT, FORGET ABOUT IT! I would much rather have a bat drop on my foot than a 50mph ball in the face that has ricocheted off my bat.
Teaching/training the players to react is the ONLY answer for a big reduction in these types of injuries.
I urge every parent/coach/instructor to duplicate the exact same self-defense situations, in practice, that our players will encounter when it happens in their games.Evaluate every player.
You might be very surprised at how poorly or how late some of your players react. You might get very worried to see how many of your players do not react AT ALL.
A trip to the ER takes all the fun out of the game. Let's keep the game safe AND fun!
