Softball fly ball drills can be hard to find. That is why you will see that there are not as many drills in this drill page as there are in others. I have developed some on my own and included drills that I used over my 20 years of softball coaching experience.
Softball Fly Ball Drills
1,2,3
From Coach Stacey Baker coach of High School Girls Softball in Camden, Tennessee.
One of my favorite fielding drill is what I call the: (1, 2, 3 drill). This drill is great for both infielders as well as outfielders.
This is a line drive and pop up fielding drill which teaches players to catch three types of flyballs.
1) a line drive right at them,
2) a line drive that they must stretch for,
3) and last a flyball that they must sprint to catch. This is how the drill works.
Line your players up in a single file line, players should start on the fair line just behind first base at the edge of the outfield grass. The coach will be in right-center field with a bucket of balls. The players will be running in a straight line about 50 to 60 feet away from the coach. (Running from first towards second.) One player at a time and they need their gloves.
The coach starts by throwing a line drive right at the players, the player catches it and will still running the coach throws the second ball in front of the player making her reach to catch it, while the player is still running the coach throws the third ball, which is a high pop fly out away from the player that she must track down and catch it. After player one has been she returns to the back of the line and it is time for the next player.
Keys importance to this drill:
1) Once the players starts running (she never stops nor hesitates) she sprints all the way, catching all the balls on the run.
2) Once the players catches a ball she quickly throws it down and looks for the next ball.
3) After the player has finish she retreats and picks up the three balls and gets in the back of the line. (balls on the ground may cause a twisted ankle)
4) The coach needs to be quick and accurate with his/her throws. A line drive right at them starts it off, then the second throw must be where they reach out for, and the last throw is a fly ball out away from the player which they must hustle down and catch.
5) This drill really works on catches you may encounter during a game.
6) There is a big difference between running and sprinting we like our players to sprint while doing this drill.
Hope you can use this drill and I hope I did a good job explaining this drill.
COLORED NUMBERS
This drill is to help the kids keep an eye on the ball. I write numbers on the balls in different colors 1-5. The girls have to field the ball and call out the color the number is written in. When they get the hang of that have them call out the number written. I use permanent marker and depending on the age I will determine what size to make the numbers.
Hope you can use this drill thanks.
