Game situation - coaching opinions wanted

[absdad]

Coaches, would like to hear your opinions on this play, and what your reaction would have been. What would you have said to your team, and to whom? This situation happened to us this past weekend.

Tie game, 4th inning, one out, runner on 1. Batter shows bunt, corners come in, batter drops one down the left side, 2B covers first, SS goes to 2nd. 3B fields bunt and makes throw to 2B covering 1st. Batter was called safe in a close play. Baserunner rounds 2nd, and goes for 3rd. 2B immediately throws to 3rd to get lead runner; 3B and SS were both moving, but not going to 3 specifically to cover the throw. Throw was not a wild overthrow, but hits fence, recovered by LF, but only after baserunner has scored, and now batter is at 2, still with one out.

 

[fireball]

Depends on what has been covered in practice. Our LF knows that when a batter bunts with a runner on 1st, it is a race between her and the runner to third. The girls do not know any more than what gets coached in practice.

 

[PA SB Dad]

I think it depends on the age group. At 14U and above, either P or 3B covers third, depending on who fields the bunt. In your example, P has to cover third on a bunt played by 3B if 1B coming in on a bunt and you are rotating SS to second and 2B to first. At 10U and 12U, we used P and 3B to cover the bunts and kept 1B at first, 2B covering second, SS covering third. We prefer to have the OFs backing up throws rather than covering the bases, though I've seen plenty of OFs on other teams covering second and third.

 

[CoachKevin]

We have the same as PA.. With the corners charging, if 3B fields the bunt P covers 3rd, if P fields the bunt 3B goes back to the bag (in a sprint).

Although we do have a called play in which LF covers 3rd but that is an attempt to draw the runner to take 3rd as both P & 3B are looking at each other.

 

[joemcq51]

Guess it depends on what I have put in as a coach. Who normally covers 3B on a bunt? I try and keep it very simple at younger ages. I actually have my SS cover 3b on all bunts. We actually give up 2B if the team gets the bunt down. We bring in CF for the throwback. I have had 3B or P cover 3 at older ages. Reality is you need to pick a play and practice it. If you don't, teams will expose it.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Hopefully, if I was the 2nd baseman (who is now at first), I would have recognized that no one was at third and I would have held the ball and run it back to the pitcher.

 

[SoCalDad]

DD's team has CF cover 2nd. CF's speed is exceptional and is able to get to the base as quick or quicker than SS. SS goes to 3rd and 2B to 1st. 3B and 1B crash.

 

[sluggers]

There were two mistakes:

(1) 2B should have held the ball.
(2) Someone should have covered 3B.

As to (1), the coach needs to talk to her and remind her to be aggressive, but she has to know who she is throwing the ball. If the kids are 12U, then it isn't a big deal. If it is 18U, it is a bigger deal. But, it happens.

As to (2), this is really the coach's fault. The responsibilities for this situation should be crystal clear. There are a 1000 ways to handle this, but you have to instruct the players. I suspect the coach didn't teach the outfielders that they are supposed to be playing the game rather than watching the game.

 

[GI Tom]

I've seen all kinds of funky bunt coverage, but most prevalant I've seen is:

1B and 3B crash
SS covers 3B
2B covers 1B
CF covers 2B (has time to get there as play is developing and can usually be there before batter runner gets to 2B if they continue)
RF and LF go toward fences with angle for overthrows

 

[absdad]

The 2B was my dd, and this was 12u. She plays 2 when she's not behind the plate. The coach told her that she should have held the ball, and run it into the circle, which I somewhat agree with. Nobody was covering 3, at all. My dd and I talked about it later on, her reasoning was, the coach has always told her when a runner goes for 2, to make the throw. The SS is 'supposed' to be there. I can understand WHY she did it, but don't necessarily agree with what she did. Coach got kind of heated, but it was a close game, so I understand. Just trying to see what other teams would have done, or have practiced to do in that situation. My dd and I like to analyze things like that, and see what she could do different to improve. Just thought I'd tap into the knowledge of wealth here, since I wasn't sure that there was an absolute answer. Thanks for the answers, keep them coming.