Pointers

 

I now would like to share with you some key "tricks" that I've learned through my 20+ years of baseball and softball.  I would be very happy if this will help a few players play a better game on the softball diamond.

Outfield

I personally found outfield to be a very important position to play -- because if a ball gets by you, there's no one behind you to back you up!  So, the key is to always keep the ball in front of you.

When you see a fly ball coming towards you, unless you are 100% sure that the ball will drop in front of you, your first step always is step back.  This is because it is so much easier to catch a ball moving forward than moving backwards.

If you have tendencies to have the fly balls go right over your head, try the following:

Try to catch the ball at your chest.

If a ball comes down in front of you, then just move forward to catch the ball.  Again, it is much easier to catch moving forward than moving backwards.

If a ball comes down behind you, just raise your glove higher.  If you have to raise extend your arms above your head completely to catch a fly ball, then you have moved in too much.

Infield

The key to playing infield is to keep the ball within the infield.   That is, if you are an infielder, your mission is to try to block the ball any way you can.

Ground balls are sometimes difficult to catch because the ball can take an irregular bounce.

A lot of people make errors by letting a ball go underneath the glove.   This should never happen!

There are two important keys to catching grounders.

Try to catch the ball in front of you.

With a few exceptions, you should always try to position yourself so that you can be right in the path of the ball.

By being in the path of the ball, you can always catch the ball right in front of you -- and it makes it much easier to knock it down even if you can't catch the ball, keeping the ball in the infield.

Be lightfooted!  Don't completely plant your foot so that you can't move them if the ball all of a sudden decide to change its course of direction.

Put your glove down!  It is so much easier to bring the glove up to catch the ball than to drop it down to catch it (which is almost impossible...trust me!).   So, keep the glove down.  Let it touch the ground while you wait for the ball to get to you.  And if the ball comes up right in front of you, just bring up the glove. 

Hitting

Unfortunately, I'm not the world's greatest hitter or anything so I can't really tell you much.

What I can tell you though, is to watch the ball.  Watch your bat hit the ball.  Keep your head in there...you shouldn't be staring at the sky!

 

-- Mitz, April '98