That one bad inning!

[1999Coach]

We are a new 12u team,having played 4 tournaments this fall, practiced together since August. During practice we have minimal errors, play fairly aggresive ball, Here's the delimma: Tounament time we will start out strong, mid game we have a what I call the "bad inning" where we fall apart in nearly every game, numerous errors fielding and throwing then after we finally get out of that inning we pull it back together and play like we should and finish strong but we have usually blown the game in the bad inning. What can we do to avoid the "bad inning" all together? As coaches we are at our witts end as to what else to do.
Thanks

 

[sluggers]

First, you are deceiving yourself a little bit. Almost every loss in softball is caused by "one bad inning". If a good team gets another team down by a few runs, the game is over. You play well after the "one bad inning" because the other team has won the game, so they play more conservatively. If the other team is playing conservatively, you won't have as many errors because the other team won't run as much (i.e., they won't steal or take the other base), so your team isn't being pressured.

Most likely, you aren't practicing the right things, your practices aren't intense enough, and you don't penalize players for making mistakes.

What are the right things to practice? You have to make a list *specifically* of the errors that result in losing the game. My guess is that there are a couple of walks, someone hits a grounder, the fielder tosses the ball into right field, the right fielder wanders over to the ball and throws it to home, so the batter ends up at 3B.

I can't tell you what you are doing wrong at practice, but some common problems:

(1) The coaches rewards the result rather than the technique--e.g., A kid turns her head on a grounder, but catches it anyway--the kid has made a mistake, she did not perform the drill correctly. Therefore, she must redo it. But, most coaches just say, "Don't turn your head" and move to the next girl.
(2) The coaches want to play rather than coach. (Having a good time is OK...playing with the kids is not.)
(3) The coaches don't know how to field--what I mean is that they have never broken down every aspect of fielding, and can't watch a kid catch a popup and give you a list of everything that the kid did wrong literally from her head to her toes.
(4) The practices are too much talk and too little action.

What do I mean by not intense enough? You have to run a practice like it is a military drill. The girls have to have an incentive to perform at practice. The girls play the way they practice. If you aren't emphasizing crisp, clean, perfect execution at practice, you aren't going to get it during the game.

Finally, you have to penalize players who make mistakes. The only penalty that works is sitting them on the bench. A "mistake" is not defined as "throwing the ball away" or "dropping a popup". A mistake is failing to correctly field or throw the ball. You *MUST* take your best players out of a game for making mistakes, and make them sit and watch the game on the bench.

The only thing the players care about is playing time (PT). The only thing that will get their attention is losing PT.

 

[1999Coach]

Thanks Ray, I see what your saying, maybe I'm not as tough on them as I should be? Maybe I've neen a little to soft on them since this was a new team and should toughen it up when the holidays are over.
Thanks, 1999Coach

 

[1999Coach]

Screwball, I know exactly waht your saying! There have been a couple of games that half the team would have been benched.
1999Coach

 

[sluggers]

So, how does this work? You name a girl the starting shortstop for the first game, and it is her position for the entire season? If you bat a girl clean up, is she your clean up batter for the entire season?

And, if the girls are so fragile, why do you remove pitchers from the game after they have walked 3 or 4 batters? Shouldn't they be suffering irreparable harm from the trauma also?

 

[Quake Softball]

1999, I would hire a team doctor and have them all tested to see if they are allergic to out number 3. That is what we have done for our team. I can't remember the off times that we would get the first two outs of the inning right away and then give up 5 or more runs. Maybe the doctor will know of some kind of shot we can give the girls!!!!

I am going to share a story with you to make you feel better. Last year in our league play, we were winning 9-0 heading into the last inning. Now our league rules dictate that you can only bat 10 batters in an inning. Absolutely no way we could lose, right? WRONG. The score is 9-8 with a runner at third with the last batter up. The last batter walks. Instead of my catcher holding the ball, she throws it back to the pitcher. The pitcher sees the batter heading to second and throws the ball to second, ball ends up in CF. CF throws to 3B and over throws her also, runner scores and we lose 10-9. The whole time I am begging and pleading for someone to throw the ball home to no avail.

So, hopefully, that makes you feel a little better 1999. I don't think that any one can beat that "one bad inning"!!!

 

[sluggers]

Teams that don't penalize for errors are creating a situation where the girls have no incentive to improve. How does someone take the SS's job? How does the starting SS ever lose her job? How does the Coach's DD lose her job? The answer is, "They don't." Why should a kid work hard? Why should a kid become a better player if they never have a chance to prove it?

I always think it is funny when the coaches are surprised that their girls don't perform up to their ability and the coaches have done nothing to encourage their play.

Some players are motivated by fear and anxiety while others are not. Hence if you have 7 anxious players you have to get the gremlins out of their cumulative heads.

That is just hogwash. As long as all the players are treated equally and the kids know that they will get another chance to prove themselves, they aren't fearful and they aren't anxious.

When a kid gets pulled, she doesn't like it--and she shouldn't. Next time out, she is more focused.

 

[CoachAl]

mistakes

I guess we take a little different approach when it comes to mistakes. I tell our players all the time they absolutely CAN NOT play a game in fear of making a mistake....especially with the younger age groups. Most 10u and 12u players I've seen coached with the threat of benching or being pulled from a game will tend to play extremley tight and on edge and guess what happens, they make MANY mistakes. Mistakes at this age in a game is how they learn to play this game!! Now, that doesn't mean we tolerate things like not being in the ready position, not giving absolute effort on every play, not making lazy throws they normally can make in practice, etc. Big difference as those are not mistakes, that is just paying attention to business.

 

[mkral]

I coach a lot like Al does. I encourage our girls to be aggressive. To be aggressive they will make mistakes. They need to be able to do this without the tought or worry of being benched. If they are afraid they will be benched the first time they boot a ball they will not be aggressive. More often then not they will make the play. If they don't they will be upset but for the right reason and we make sure they know they cannot get that one back and it is the next one that matters now. It has worked for us. I understand what Slugger is saying but for us we are to short handed to do this so we deal with it differently. Time management and timeouts are a key as well. Use timeouts before things get out of control but to do this you have to be able to identify it. Some cannot do that. A timeout to yell and scream at your girls because they screwed up after they have done it will just make them perform worse in my experience. I take time to focus on the situation at hand and where we need to go from here. Just my 2 cents...

 

[AndyS]

We are a new 12u team,having played 4 tournaments this fall, practiced together since August. During practice we have minimal errors, play fairly aggresive ball, Here's the delimma: Tounament time we will start out strong, mid game we have a what I call the "bad inning" where we fall apart in nearly every game, numerous errors fielding and throwing then after we finally get out of that inning we pull it back together and play like we should and finish strong but we have usually blown the game in the bad inning. What can we do to avoid the "bad inning" all together? As coaches we are at our witts end as to what else to do.
Thanks

I am not smart enough or have enough coaching experience to leap to some of the conclusions here based on the short paragraph above. The one thing I have learned is really understanding the root cause of the "big inning" is critical. It can actually be quite eye opening because I think we tend to just analyze in generalities like it was walks, or "errors", etc. So we now sit-down as a staff after a tournament and analyze each game and we have found the following examples of root causes. These are just examples and may not apply to your team.

1) Coaches: Look in the mirror!! What is your and your coaching staff's demeanor when things start to unravel a bit? You set the tone, again I know it sounds simple, but I can tell you that this is something I had to work on!! And I see coaches all the time unravel themselves when things start going south.

2) Pitcher Were they a source of the issue? Walking batters? And importantly, what was their demeanor when things started to unravel? I work with our pitchers and I can tell you we spend alot of time on conditioning and talking through situations. I talk about the "big inning" all the time and their unique position to shut things down not just with pitches but how they act in the circle. If they are calm and appear in control, the team will feed off that attitude If they walked batters what was the cause? I have seen physical conditioning in the past and that is why I emphasize physical conditioning. I have seen pitchers reach those middle innings later in the tournament and things break down due to stamina.

3) Fielders Try to understand the source of any errors. Is it really a lack of fundamental technique? If so, that becomes your focus in the next practice. In our experience it is usually a series of bad decisions that lead to the break down. So we take each situation and work through it at the next practice. Maybe it was runners on second and third with less than two out. Is everybody clear about what they are going to do. Again I have seen teams that are great when they are cruising but can really break down once runners get on.

So those are just a few thoughts. My bottom line recommendation is really break down the game and understand the root causes for the problems. And then practice practice practice those situations. This will involve a good deal of talking and explaining as well as executing the situation.