Competitive Softball Drills

To improve competitive softball skills, make practice drills as aggressive as games. Coach Marc Dagenais, who has worked with Canadian national softball teams, recommends drill variety on his Softball Performance website. Head Coach Sharon Perkins of Georgia Tech uses drills that resemble game situations, according to the Softball Today website.

  1. Pepper

    • Dagenais uses a pepper drill to help players develop bat control and a short, quick swing. Position three fielders two feet apart from each other and a hitter roughly 22 feet away from them. The hitter hits a ground ball to the fielders. The fielder who plays the ball throws it back to the hitter, who hits another ground ball. A right-handed hitter tries to hit inside throws to the left fielder, outside throws to the right fielder, and center throws to the middle fielder. A left-handed hitter tries for the opposite. Use a second softball to make the drill more difficult.

    Three Lines

    • Drill players to field ground balls and make throws. Set up three equal lines of players on the infield, each with a hitter and a catcher. Put the first line of players near third base, the second behind the pitcher’s mound and the third behind second base, roughly twice as far from its hitter as the other two. The middle line should field ground balls backhanded. Choose a number of "points" before the drill. If the number is five, each player in the lines must field five balls from the hitter and make five clean throws back to the catcher before he can move to the next line. If a player makes an error before fielding and throwing five times, she goes to the back of the line. When a player makes five clean plays in each line, he has completed the drill.

    21

    • Playing without base runners, the team must make 21 "outs" error-free--the number of outs in a seven-inning softball game. Set up a full defense minus a pitcher. Hit balls to the fielders from the batter's box. Infielders field the ball and make the play to first. Outfielders catch the ball and throw to a cutoff man, who relays to the catcher. Only error-free outs count as points. If the team makes an error, reset the score to zero. Hit balls between positions to encourage communication. The team must work together to score 21 points and not become discouraged if the score resets to zero.