Softball Baserunning - How Aggressive Do You Go?

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Over the weekend I was working with Erin, one of my former players (who is still a student) on her baserunning skills. Actually, that's a misnomer. We weren't really working on skills. We were working on the mental side instead — knowing what to do, and working on her opening up her game on the bases. You see, she has legitimate speed. Not sure where she is now, but I know she was 3.0 home to first a year ago, and probably faster than that now. Yet once she got on base, she tended to shrink into a shell. Most of the time she would think station to station instead of realizing just what her speed could do on the rest of the bases, so we went out on a field to try and change that thinking. A big part of her "conservative" running was a fear of making an out. She'd take the easy base, but was reluctant to push the envelope even a little bit despite my encouraging everyone on the team to always "think two bases" when running. That's not unusual. Softball players don't like to make mistakes, and they sure don't like to get thrown out. Yet the fact is if you're ever going to be any good as a baserunner you have to accept that you will make some mistakes, and you will get thrown out occasionally. That's just the nature of the game if you're going to be aggressive. I heard that same speech at the NFCA Coaches College class on developing a run-producting offense. I believe it was Jay Miller, former head coach of the USA National Team and Mississippi State who said if you're aggressive on the bases as a coach you're going to get some runners thrown out — often at inopportune times. If you can't live with that, you'll never get the benefits of being aggressive.

In Erin's case, one of the things I did was walk her into the outfield so she could see the challenges from the other side. When we talked about going first to third on a ball hit to right, I walked her out there and had her look at the throw the right fielder would have to make to get her out. Not just from one area, but a few different ones. I think she started to see that the pressure in most cases was on the fielder rather than the runner. After all, all she had to do was run hard and make a quick left turn at second. But the fielder had to field the ball, set her feet, and quickly make a long throw right to the bag. If the throw was off-line, or too late, Erin was going to get in easily. If the fielder did everything right, the third baseman still had catch the ball and apply a tag while Erin was charging hard at her — not always easy to do. Hopefully she got the point that being aggressive creates opportunities, particularly when you're fast. Also that you're playing percentage, not getting a guarantee.

There have been times when, as a coach, I've gotten a runner thrown out at home and killed an inning. I know that violates the cardinal rule about not making the first or last out at home, but when I go back over it later more often than not it was still the right decision. The reason I feel that way is because in order to get my runner out, the other team has to execute a perfect throw from the outfield, along with a perfect relay throw and a tag — something they haven't done up until now. The odds are in my favor. But just like in any form of gambling, the odds or percentages are no guarantee of success. As a coach, or as a player, you have to decide how risk-averse you are. If you never want to make an out on the bases, being conservative is the way to go. But if you're playing to win, and unable to outright dominate your opponent, being aggressive may just be your best option. Just be ready to take the heat if it doesn't work.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.