Running out foul balls etc.

[mm'spapa]

I realize at the younger ages you are trying to teach discipline, and the fact that anything can happen. My question is, do we really need to teach kids to run out every obvious foul ball, and caught popups? I don't understand running out every foul completely through the base even after ump calls foulball. Go ahead and flame me.

 

[Coach Fastpitch]

It is called respect for the game. Obvious foul balls can spin back fair and pop ups can be dropped.

 

[sluggers]

Players should run out all popups. Players should run out any "close" foul ball. But, it is not necessary to run out every foul ball.

This seems like a "quicksand" questions. A little more information would be helpful: Is this a situation where a newbie coach has decided to take "respect for the game" to the extreme and is expecting players to run out fouls that hit the backstop? (I've seen a team doing just that...) Or is this a parent whose DD didn't run out a popup to the SS and then got chewed out by the coach?

 

[02Crush]

Players SHOULD RUN OUT EVERY foul ball or pop up. However, 1st base Coaches SHOULD WAIVE OFF EVERY RUNNER if it is a play where they should not run it out completely. In my mind this is a team sport and the coaches are a part of the team too. We as coaches can make mistakes equally as bad as any player that can be costly to a game. That is why Players should be alert and go 100% on every play and their coaches should as well in order to make the best decisions. Many of those decisions can be how to best save a players energy throughout a day. m2c

 

[CoachKevin]

^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^

 

[mm'spapa]

My original post says obvious foul balls and caught popups.
1. Short foul down 1st base line lands 20' out of bounds. Runner runs half way to 1st, turns around, coach yells!!! at runner.
2. Weak popup to pitcher batter takes off sees pitcher catch!!! the ball, halfway to 1st runs into dugout. Coach screams!!!

 

[Momo'sDad]

My original post says obvious foul balls and caught popups.
1. Short foul down 1st base line lands 20' out of bounds. Runner runs half way to 1st, turns around, coach yells!!! at runner.
2. Weak popup to pitcher batter takes off sees pitcher catch!!! the ball, halfway to 1st runs into dugout. Coach screams!!!

Your description #1 sounds like it was obvious that the batter didn't need to run all the way.

But #2 is a definitely HTBT. Did the coach provide instant feedback because, in their judgment, they thought the batter gave up on giving 100% effort in anticipation of the play being made by the pitcher?

Unless a batted ball has been ruled foul or you see it hit a tree or the backstop, players on my team run it out.

Why? I could say 'because that's the way I believe the game was meant to be played', but there's more than that. It's never over until it's over. Sounds cliché, but being able to make dramatic comebacks against the odds at the end of a game comes from playing every play until that play's result is decided. And it goes without saying that these lessons from softball are the ones we send them off into the world with. If your child is struggling and has a C average with 2 weeks left in the term, are you going to tell them to pack it in and just accept the C? I certainly wouldn't.

I don't care if that pitcher has caught 100 soft pop-ups out of 100. Until that ball is secured and the out called by the umpire, the play is live.

As a coach, if I see that the other team is a little lazy, then I may be able to teach our players how to exploit that, yet another softball lesson that translates well to real life competition.

 

[JAD]

Players SHOULD RUN OUT EVERY foul ball or pop up. However, 1st base Coaches SHOULD WAIVE OFF EVERY RUNNER if it is a play where they should not run it out completely. In my mind this is a team sport and the coaches are a part of the team too. We as coaches can make mistakes equally as bad as any player that can be costly to a game. That is why Players should be alert and go 100% on every play and their coaches should as well in order to make the best decisions. Many of those decisions can be how to best save a players energy throughout a day. m2c

Upon contact we want our players running towards first picking up the first base coach. If the ball is foul, it is the 1st base coaches responsibility to stop the runner and send her back.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I realize at the younger ages you are trying to teach discipline, and the fact that anything can happen. My question is, do we really need to teach kids to run out every obvious foul ball, and caught popups? I don't understand running out every foul completely through the base even after ump calls foulball. Go ahead and flame me.

No, it is not necessary ... that is why there is rec-ball.

 

[InsidePitch]

In 14U I have watched a fairly simple pop up fall in the circle with the P, 3rd, SS, 2nd, 1st and C all within catching distance. Seemed like a straight forward play but in the end it wasn't. I have seen a ball pop out of the 1st baseman's mitt, hit the ground and still get the out because the BR did not give 100% down the line. Like the post above, there is rec-ball.