Great Fielding Drill Under Pressure

By: Cindy Bristow

Provided by: Softball Excellence

Having great infielders during practice isn't enough to help us win games – we need those players to play great under pressure and this drill really helps with that!

Learn a great drill called the Around the World drill to help your infielders learn to handle pressure.

The Around the World drill centers around your infielders, but you could certainly create an outfielder version of it. Start by having your infielders grab their gloves and go out to their positions. Make sure you also include a pitcher and catcher in this drill. You'll need somebody hitting groundballs which can either be yourself, another coach or one of your players.

Here's how the drill works:

• Hit 3 balls to each player before moving on to the next player.
• Each ball gets thrown to a different base:
  • First throw goes to 1st base
  • Second throw is a Double Play
  • Third throw goes Home
• Start at 3rd base and hit her 3 balls and after she makes all 3 throws, hit to Shortstop, then 2nd , then 1st , then Pitcher and finally your Catcher gets 3 balls and 3 throws.
• But here's the deal - whenever an infielder either lets a ball get between her legs, makes a bad throw or throws to the wrong base at the wrong time - you start over by hitting to the 3rd baseman who has to do her 3 throws in order.

A suggestion is to time your players to see how long it takes them to successfully complete this drill. Also split your team up into different infield combinations and have teams competing against each other.