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Wondering how to play the infield? To start, infield fundamentals and skills are a critical part of performing effectively fastpitch softball. Regular grounders, backhands, double play feeds, drop-steps, and bunt defense are just a few of the defensive skills that you will need to teach your players. In this post, we will cover some of the essential infield fundamentals that your softball players will need to learn. NOTE: Some of the videos below are from our membership site for coaches & parents. This is the reason that you will hear some references to other videos. If your players want to learn how to play the infield at any level, the first step is mastering regular ground-balls. Click the video for an overview of the basic fundamentals involved.
Here is a quick recap of the essential aspects that you watched in the video: Below are two videos regarding backhands. The first video will explain the simplified (or "normal") way of backhanding a ground-ball, while the second video will explain more advanced techniques. Essential Fastpitch Softball Infield Fundamental #1: Regular Grounders
Essential Infielder Skill #2: Backhands
Video #1: Regular Backhands
This video covers infield fundamentals for regular grounders. Click the video to learn more.
Video #2: Advanced Backhands
For players wanting to learn how to play infield at the highest levels, this video is important. Here I explain a more advanced technique of "raking" the grounder on a backhand.
You can also find another great video about backhanding on the MLB Network. In this fun video, two former MLB players cover the more advanced backhand techniques.
As they mention in the video, players wanting to know how to play infield at the "next-level" will need to learn the footwork that they describe.
There are multiple ways that the second baseman and the shortstop can turn a double play in fastpitch softball.
One of the most basic (but most common) ways is with the underhand feed.
Watch the video and then read below the video for a few additional key pointers for using this technique!
Below are the main infield fundamentals needed when using the underhand feed for the fastpitch softball double play:
Second baseman will be the most common position that will use this technique. We call this the backhand toss (or “flip”).
Typically, this is going to be used on a ball that is hit directly at the fielder, and one where they are close enough to the target to make the toss efficiently. If the player is too far away from the target, a different type of toss would be more effective.
Click the video to see to the breakdown of the technique, and then read below the video for some additional content!
You may have picked up in the video that the backhand flip is commonly used with the second baseman when they are turning the double play, or at the very least trying to get the force out at second base. However, this could be used by other infielders as well in different situations.
It's a good idea to have all of your players learn how to use this infield throwing technique. You never know when they may need to use some type of variation of this toss. It's an infield fundamental skill that all fastpitch softball players need to learn.
The key to using this technique is that your players must practice making this toss at different distances.
The stronger the fielder, the farther away from the target they can be to use this method. Younger players will naturally have less “range” for making this type of toss.
But the only way they will figure out the “proper” range is to have them figure it out in practice.
To conclude, each infielder skill listed above is just one small part of the overall infield fundamentals “umbrella.” There are other aspects that also need to be learned, but this is a great starting point.
And teaching each of these fastpitch softball infielder skills properly will help your players be more consistent and efficient on game-day!
(By Tim Covey, Founder of Covey Sports)
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