Softball Drills for Girls

Sports teach kids leadership skills, sportsmanship and respect for others. It builds character on and off the field. Softball gives girls an outlet to express themselves and helps them develop a love for sports and exercise. Sport-specific drills can enhance players' skills. Have your softball players practice these drills to further improve upon their natural talent.

  1. Throwing With Balance Drill

    • This drill helps softball players realize the significance of transferring weight from one leg to another during a throw. The shifting of weight improves her balance as she generates power to execute the throw. In this drill, the player should assume the correct throwing stance and shift her weight from her back leg to her front leg while bringing the arm over and releasing the softball.

    Backhand Fielding Drill

    • The backhand fielding drill helps young players build skills and confidence when intercepting ground balls. Errors occur when a player attempts to reach across her body with her catching hand to field a ball. This maneuver helps the fielder execute the play without the need to reposition her body.

    Fly Ball Drill

    • Since catching a fly ball is a crucial skill to playing softball, this drill helps reduce or eliminate the fear of fly balls. This skill improves with repetition and should be the center of focus during a portion of practices. The catching hand should be open with the palm facing the ball with the free hand on the outside of the glove just over the net.

    Numbered-Ball Hitting Drill

    • Hitting drives in runs and is crucial to offensive playing. Young players' eyes, however, are not always as adept to spotting the pitches they should avoid or hit. This drill focuses on honing hand-eye coordination, identifying pitches and keeping a player's eye on the ball. Start this drill by numbering the softballs. The hitter should assume the proper batting stance in the batter's box and wait for the pitch. She should watch the ball while she prepares to strike it, calling out the number written on the ball to the pitcher.

    Angle Toss Hitting Drill

    • This drill teaches young players the correct hand positioning for swinging a softball bat, which will increase her swinging speed. It also helps her avoid the mistakes of yielding to an inside pitch or pulling in the arms and taking a short, ineffective swing, more commonly referred to as being jammed. The goal of this drill is for the hitters to learn to keep her hands in the hot zone, which is between her body and the ball, and then drive them straight out to get a base hit. For this drill, the pitcher and the hitter should face each other and stand about 10 to 15 feet away apart. The pitcher should pitch the ball underhanded to the hitter, who should assume the proper hitting stance. The hitter should then attempt to hit the ball while keeping her hands in the hot zone.