HELP!!!! 10U Infield positioning and Batting Lineup
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I have 10 girls. Here's what I'm working with:
1.A lefty pitcher that hits and can play anywhere
2.My lefty daughter who hits small, knows every position (including catcher), even if she isn't great at it, but has a good glove and working to be back-up pitcher.
3.A tall righty that has 3 seasons of experience, has potential to be really good and works hard, but doesn't have a consistent glove.
4.A speedy, tiny righty that has 3 seasons, but hasn't played in 2 yrs. I'm trying to get her out of the habit of "basket catching."
5.Another tiny girl with 1 fall season of 8U. She has the weakest arm.
6.A quick, speedy girl, 1 fall season, with an inconsistent glove, an outfield arm, but can't throw accurate in the infield.
7.A catcher with a good arm, and potential that is working hard and taking lessons.
8.An extremely athletic 1st season who still has inconsistent throws and an inconsistent glove, but is going to rock by the end of the season.
9.Another 1st season girl that is slow, has an inconsistent glove, but will do her best to hustle and does anything I ask.
10. A tall lefty that has played, but has no infield experience and inconsistent glove.
1.A lefty pitcher that hits and can play anywhere
2.My lefty daughter who hits small, knows every position (including catcher), even if she isn't great at it, but has a good glove and working to be back-up pitcher.
3.A tall righty that has 3 seasons of experience, has potential to be really good and works hard, but doesn't have a consistent glove.
4.A speedy, tiny righty that has 3 seasons, but hasn't played in 2 yrs. I'm trying to get her out of the habit of "basket catching."
5.Another tiny girl with 1 fall season of 8U. She has the weakest arm.
6.A quick, speedy girl, 1 fall season, with an inconsistent glove, an outfield arm, but can't throw accurate in the infield.
7.A catcher with a good arm, and potential that is working hard and taking lessons.
8.An extremely athletic 1st season who still has inconsistent throws and an inconsistent glove, but is going to rock by the end of the season.
9.Another 1st season girl that is slow, has an inconsistent glove, but will do her best to hustle and does anything I ask.
10. A tall lefty that has played, but has no infield experience and inconsistent glove.
I say you put #8 at 1B and your DD at SS or 2B depending on where the batters hit against your pitcher. #8 is only going to rock if she gets a lot of action. Alternate the two between middle infield and 1B. 10U can be a whole lot of watching everyone else play if you're stuck in a 1-ball-hit-to-me-a-game-if-I'm-lucky position. Others can earn he right to try 1B as they become more consistent at catching the thrown ball.
Pitcher and Catcher is where is all begins. Lock those down then move to the next problem...
Sounds to me like you need to teach your girls to catch, field and throw before stressing over who plays where. Split up into stations and get as many ground balls, throws and catches as you can in every practice. My goal would be to get every girl 100+ of each of those at every practice before working on positions.
I had to do this with my 10U league team a couple years ago. Took a few practices, but the picture really started to become clear.
Sounds to me like you need to teach your girls to catch, field and throw before stressing over who plays where. Split up into stations and get as many ground balls, throws and catches as you can in every practice. My goal would be to get every girl 100+ of each of those at every practice before working on positions.
I had to do this with my 10U league team a couple years ago. Took a few practices, but the picture really started to become clear.
- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,186
- 48
When I used to coach 8U & 10U rec, I would frequently review the defensive and offensive links at mysoftballcoach.com. There is some good information on what type of players are best suited for which position and and how best to set the line-up to maximize runs. Check it out (below)
***With that said, your #1 goal as a rec coach is to teach softball fundamentals and make sure the players enjoy the game enough to play next season.
"Winning 10U Defensive Strategy
If you haven’t read the "Defensive Strategy for 8U" let me direct you to that page. You will find many items from that article will still hold true for the Winning 10U softball team. There are a few changes because the skill level has changed. Of course, you may need to modify your strategy somewhat depending on your league rules. There are many variations to 10U League play. Some Leagues are straight girl-pitch, others are modified girl/coach or machine pitch, and some are straight machine pitch. There are also variations on rules for stealing. In this article, I will assume there is some form of girl pitch and that stealing is allowed.
The basis for having a Winning 10U Defensive Strategy is making easy outs. Let’s assume that a typical game is 4 innings, which means your defensive team will have to make 12 outs. Most of those outs will come via strike outs or ground balls converted into outs. Yes, there will be the rare pop fly that is caught and even rarer thrown out base stealer. But I sure don’t want to count on those two methods for winning softball games.
Pitching: Good Luck with this. You obviously have to put the softball player in this position that can throw the most strikes. Strike outs are a gift to your defense and you need all of them you can get. Pitching is an incredibly difficult skill for 10U girls. I really hope your league uses a modified girl/machine pitch approach. (Check out the Louisville Slugger Pitching Machine that only costs about $150 which is very affordable for leagues.) But whether it’s straight girl pitch or modified, you must put your most accurate pitcher on the mound. If your team can’t throw strikes, your 10U defensive strategy won’t even come into play. I strongly suggest your pitchers go to a private pitching coach. If they won’t go to a pitching coach at least encourage them to purchase a book or video so they can learn to pitch correctly. They need to practice at home a minimum of 4 nights a week throwing a minimum of 100 pitches per night. Suffice it to say, that no other position or skill is as important as pitching. Be proactive and supportive of your pitchers, their development, and their parents.
1st Base: This is now the second most important position on the field behind pitcher. Having your best ball catcher at 1st base is the cornerstone of having a winning 10U defensive strategy. You are still at the age where you must convert the ground balls that are hit to pitcher, 1st base, and 2nd base into outs. These plays should be automatic. It doesn’t do any good to have a shortstop with a great glove and rifle arm if the girl on 1st base can't catch.
In determining our winning 10U defensive strategy, let’s assume that all 12 outs are going to come by virtue of ground balls. That means there will be 12 plays at 1st base. So who do you want making those catches, the player that catches 12 of12, 11 of 12, 10 of 12, or 9 of 12? If you are going to play winning softball, you need this number to be as high as possible. To be certain, the more errors your 1st baseman makes, the more games you will lose.
An important element of the 10 defensive strategy is proper positioning of the 1st baseman. She should be about 5 feet in front of the bag towards home and 2 to 3 feet off of the line. There are lots of little pop ups towards 1st and we want her in a position to run up and catch them. Also, it’s important to guard the line, as a shot down the line can turn into a triple quickly. As part of your 10U defensive strategy, the 1st baseman has to be a disciplined softball ANIMAL. She needs to go after everything hit on her side of the field with one exception. On grounders hit towards 2nd base, she is only allowed to take about 3 steps to her right. If the ball is further away than 3 steps, she needs to let the 2nd baseman play the ball and she needs to cover the bag. As your 2nd baseman learns to cover 1st base, you can start to modify the 3 step rule.
Catcher: If your league does not allow stealing then disregard this paragraph and put your second worst player here. If your league does allow stealing, the 10U defensive strategy changes so that the catcher position now has a great deal of importance. Not that 10U girls can throw many girls out that are attempting to steal, but with some work this will become achievable, in particular throwing out slow runners trying to steal 3rd base. Even more important is the girl’s ability to catch the ball from the pitcher. It has always amazed me how few coaches have their girls steal unless the catcher misses the pitch. So, the more pitches she catches, the fewer free bases your team gives up. It’s a lot harder to score from 1st base than it is from 3rd base. Have your catcher work on throw downs to 2nd and 3rd base. You should have a pretty good shot at getting them going to 3rd as the season progresses. The number 1 reason for having a skilled catcher is to prevent runners from stealing home and that's key to a winning 10U defensive strategy.
2nd & 3rd Basemen: You will need to evaluate your talent pool for these key positions. Keep in mind that you must convert the easy outs and lots of balls get hit to 2nd base. But you might be able to put a little weaker player here who is very good with ground balls and can make the throw to 1st without sacrificing much. If so, you can put a little stronger player at 3rd base. This year 3rd base will be responsible for covering bunts, and taking throws from the catcher to get base runners attempting to steal. If you can put a fairly athletic girl here you will really shore up the left side of your infield. Be sure to have her work on cutting off ground balls that are hit towards the hole at shortstop. As part of your 10U defensive strategy, you want to have a very aggressive 3rd baseman. If the ball is on the ground anywhere on the left side of the infield, she needs to be going after it full blast. I want to turn this girl into a softball ANIMAL.
Also of note, typically you will want to position your 3rd baseman about 10 feet towards home and about 3 feet off of the foul line. However, the weaker your shortstop is, the further off the foul line you want 3rd base to play to help cover more of the hole. Playing up towards home will allow her to cover bunts and will make the throw to 1st a little shorter and easier.
Shortstop: The least important infield position at this age is shortstop. I know you think you need a stud softball player at shortstop, but remember, one of the keys to this 10U defensive strategy is to have the ANIMAL at 3rd cover some of the shortcomings at shortstop. If you are lucky enough to have enough talent that you have filled all of the other infield positions, and still have a good player to field this position, then you are well on your way to having a championship season. The shortstop's responsibilities are fielding her position and taking throw downs from the catcher. You will probably find it very discouraging at how terrible your shortstop is at catching throw downs from the catcher. Don’t worry, this is a common problem. Besides, even if you had a great player at shortstop, how often could your catcher really throw out a runner stealing 2nd base? Not very often.
Right Field: Still the most important outfield position and a key softball player in our winning 10U defensive strategy. Backing up throws to 1st base, grounders to the right side of the field, and of course balls hit to Right Field. Just as in 8U and all the way through High School, this is a deep infield position. 70% of balls hit to right field are an opportunity for an out at first base. Further, there are more balls thrown to 1st base than any other base resulting in more overthrows that have to be chased down. A heads-up softball player in right field will be the difference in winning and losing in several games. She can make your 10U defensive strategy look like pure genius. When evaluating who should play right field, you are looking for a softball player that will stay focused on her responsibilities and will hustle on every play. She can’t be late backing up the throws to 1st base…she has to be there!
Left Field: This is now more important than Center Field. Your catcher is going to be making lots of throws to 3rd base and you need someone that is alert to back up that play and throw the ball back in quickly. Also, if you have a good Right and Left Fielder, they can each help out the Center Fielder.
Center Field: This is where your Three-Toed Sloth goes. She doesn’t have to run anywhere to back up throw downs to 2nd. Anything hit to her she can throw back to 2nd base and have a relatively short throw. Let her know how important the position is, and that you are counting on her to help out the other two outfielders, and pray nothing gets hit to her. And if she is really, really bad, be sure to remind her when soccer registration is next Spring."
***With that said, your #1 goal as a rec coach is to teach softball fundamentals and make sure the players enjoy the game enough to play next season.
"Winning 10U Defensive Strategy
If you haven’t read the "Defensive Strategy for 8U" let me direct you to that page. You will find many items from that article will still hold true for the Winning 10U softball team. There are a few changes because the skill level has changed. Of course, you may need to modify your strategy somewhat depending on your league rules. There are many variations to 10U League play. Some Leagues are straight girl-pitch, others are modified girl/coach or machine pitch, and some are straight machine pitch. There are also variations on rules for stealing. In this article, I will assume there is some form of girl pitch and that stealing is allowed.
The basis for having a Winning 10U Defensive Strategy is making easy outs. Let’s assume that a typical game is 4 innings, which means your defensive team will have to make 12 outs. Most of those outs will come via strike outs or ground balls converted into outs. Yes, there will be the rare pop fly that is caught and even rarer thrown out base stealer. But I sure don’t want to count on those two methods for winning softball games.
Pitching: Good Luck with this. You obviously have to put the softball player in this position that can throw the most strikes. Strike outs are a gift to your defense and you need all of them you can get. Pitching is an incredibly difficult skill for 10U girls. I really hope your league uses a modified girl/machine pitch approach. (Check out the Louisville Slugger Pitching Machine that only costs about $150 which is very affordable for leagues.) But whether it’s straight girl pitch or modified, you must put your most accurate pitcher on the mound. If your team can’t throw strikes, your 10U defensive strategy won’t even come into play. I strongly suggest your pitchers go to a private pitching coach. If they won’t go to a pitching coach at least encourage them to purchase a book or video so they can learn to pitch correctly. They need to practice at home a minimum of 4 nights a week throwing a minimum of 100 pitches per night. Suffice it to say, that no other position or skill is as important as pitching. Be proactive and supportive of your pitchers, their development, and their parents.
1st Base: This is now the second most important position on the field behind pitcher. Having your best ball catcher at 1st base is the cornerstone of having a winning 10U defensive strategy. You are still at the age where you must convert the ground balls that are hit to pitcher, 1st base, and 2nd base into outs. These plays should be automatic. It doesn’t do any good to have a shortstop with a great glove and rifle arm if the girl on 1st base can't catch.
In determining our winning 10U defensive strategy, let’s assume that all 12 outs are going to come by virtue of ground balls. That means there will be 12 plays at 1st base. So who do you want making those catches, the player that catches 12 of12, 11 of 12, 10 of 12, or 9 of 12? If you are going to play winning softball, you need this number to be as high as possible. To be certain, the more errors your 1st baseman makes, the more games you will lose.
An important element of the 10 defensive strategy is proper positioning of the 1st baseman. She should be about 5 feet in front of the bag towards home and 2 to 3 feet off of the line. There are lots of little pop ups towards 1st and we want her in a position to run up and catch them. Also, it’s important to guard the line, as a shot down the line can turn into a triple quickly. As part of your 10U defensive strategy, the 1st baseman has to be a disciplined softball ANIMAL. She needs to go after everything hit on her side of the field with one exception. On grounders hit towards 2nd base, she is only allowed to take about 3 steps to her right. If the ball is further away than 3 steps, she needs to let the 2nd baseman play the ball and she needs to cover the bag. As your 2nd baseman learns to cover 1st base, you can start to modify the 3 step rule.
Catcher: If your league does not allow stealing then disregard this paragraph and put your second worst player here. If your league does allow stealing, the 10U defensive strategy changes so that the catcher position now has a great deal of importance. Not that 10U girls can throw many girls out that are attempting to steal, but with some work this will become achievable, in particular throwing out slow runners trying to steal 3rd base. Even more important is the girl’s ability to catch the ball from the pitcher. It has always amazed me how few coaches have their girls steal unless the catcher misses the pitch. So, the more pitches she catches, the fewer free bases your team gives up. It’s a lot harder to score from 1st base than it is from 3rd base. Have your catcher work on throw downs to 2nd and 3rd base. You should have a pretty good shot at getting them going to 3rd as the season progresses. The number 1 reason for having a skilled catcher is to prevent runners from stealing home and that's key to a winning 10U defensive strategy.
2nd & 3rd Basemen: You will need to evaluate your talent pool for these key positions. Keep in mind that you must convert the easy outs and lots of balls get hit to 2nd base. But you might be able to put a little weaker player here who is very good with ground balls and can make the throw to 1st without sacrificing much. If so, you can put a little stronger player at 3rd base. This year 3rd base will be responsible for covering bunts, and taking throws from the catcher to get base runners attempting to steal. If you can put a fairly athletic girl here you will really shore up the left side of your infield. Be sure to have her work on cutting off ground balls that are hit towards the hole at shortstop. As part of your 10U defensive strategy, you want to have a very aggressive 3rd baseman. If the ball is on the ground anywhere on the left side of the infield, she needs to be going after it full blast. I want to turn this girl into a softball ANIMAL.
Also of note, typically you will want to position your 3rd baseman about 10 feet towards home and about 3 feet off of the foul line. However, the weaker your shortstop is, the further off the foul line you want 3rd base to play to help cover more of the hole. Playing up towards home will allow her to cover bunts and will make the throw to 1st a little shorter and easier.
Shortstop: The least important infield position at this age is shortstop. I know you think you need a stud softball player at shortstop, but remember, one of the keys to this 10U defensive strategy is to have the ANIMAL at 3rd cover some of the shortcomings at shortstop. If you are lucky enough to have enough talent that you have filled all of the other infield positions, and still have a good player to field this position, then you are well on your way to having a championship season. The shortstop's responsibilities are fielding her position and taking throw downs from the catcher. You will probably find it very discouraging at how terrible your shortstop is at catching throw downs from the catcher. Don’t worry, this is a common problem. Besides, even if you had a great player at shortstop, how often could your catcher really throw out a runner stealing 2nd base? Not very often.
Right Field: Still the most important outfield position and a key softball player in our winning 10U defensive strategy. Backing up throws to 1st base, grounders to the right side of the field, and of course balls hit to Right Field. Just as in 8U and all the way through High School, this is a deep infield position. 70% of balls hit to right field are an opportunity for an out at first base. Further, there are more balls thrown to 1st base than any other base resulting in more overthrows that have to be chased down. A heads-up softball player in right field will be the difference in winning and losing in several games. She can make your 10U defensive strategy look like pure genius. When evaluating who should play right field, you are looking for a softball player that will stay focused on her responsibilities and will hustle on every play. She can’t be late backing up the throws to 1st base…she has to be there!
Left Field: This is now more important than Center Field. Your catcher is going to be making lots of throws to 3rd base and you need someone that is alert to back up that play and throw the ball back in quickly. Also, if you have a good Right and Left Fielder, they can each help out the Center Fielder.
Center Field: This is where your Three-Toed Sloth goes. She doesn’t have to run anywhere to back up throw downs to 2nd. Anything hit to her she can throw back to 2nd base and have a relatively short throw. Let her know how important the position is, and that you are counting on her to help out the other two outfielders, and pray nothing gets hit to her. And if she is really, really bad, be sure to remind her when soccer registration is next Spring."
My two cents:
Pitcher, Catcher, First in that order
The rest of the fielding will depend on your pitcher... if you have a hard throwing pitcher then Right Field, 3rd, 2nd (right field becomes a deep second base - Ive seen more outs made from right field to first then 2nd to first), 3rd to cover the bunts the offense will try just to get on base when girls are far behind on the swing... then short, center, and left (left is really only going to get past balls over 3rd)
If you have a slow placement pitcher then you will need to be careful where to place the pitch - above placement will work if you only throw outside - if you throw inside be ready to have a strong left side
On batting my recomendation is: If you have 4-5 strong and then skill falls off the cliff rotate those 4-5 strong among them (so the number 4 experiences being lead off etc) and rotate the bottom 4-5 among them (so they gain the confidence they need to know you trust they can do it - nothing destroys a batter than being consistently put to bat last.. it reinforces the you suck and I have no faith you can improve... rec is about growing and giving them something to work for)
If you have mostly 12 equal batters (good or bad) then rotate all of them around... usually you will have 2-3 that are "lead offs" and 2-3 that are "power" - put the lead offs in spot 1, 5, 9 (of 12) or even 1, 12 - same with power rotate them around 4,8,12 or 4,5,8
Its rec ball and at least in my neck of the woods in rec ball everyone is required to play infield/outfield and sit out an inning before anyone else sits more than one inning
Last as others have said: if you play with 4 outfields hide your worse players in right center and left center... right field is by far the most important outfield position in 10U as that player has to have the smarts to continually (every pitch) back up 1st when a runner is there, know if they can fire to first or hit cutoff, back up 2nd , back up right center... lots of stuff going on for this player - far more then the balance of the outfield at this age...your left field and right field should be able to cover past balls from both centers...
Pitcher, Catcher, First in that order
The rest of the fielding will depend on your pitcher... if you have a hard throwing pitcher then Right Field, 3rd, 2nd (right field becomes a deep second base - Ive seen more outs made from right field to first then 2nd to first), 3rd to cover the bunts the offense will try just to get on base when girls are far behind on the swing... then short, center, and left (left is really only going to get past balls over 3rd)
If you have a slow placement pitcher then you will need to be careful where to place the pitch - above placement will work if you only throw outside - if you throw inside be ready to have a strong left side
On batting my recomendation is: If you have 4-5 strong and then skill falls off the cliff rotate those 4-5 strong among them (so the number 4 experiences being lead off etc) and rotate the bottom 4-5 among them (so they gain the confidence they need to know you trust they can do it - nothing destroys a batter than being consistently put to bat last.. it reinforces the you suck and I have no faith you can improve... rec is about growing and giving them something to work for)
If you have mostly 12 equal batters (good or bad) then rotate all of them around... usually you will have 2-3 that are "lead offs" and 2-3 that are "power" - put the lead offs in spot 1, 5, 9 (of 12) or even 1, 12 - same with power rotate them around 4,8,12 or 4,5,8
Its rec ball and at least in my neck of the woods in rec ball everyone is required to play infield/outfield and sit out an inning before anyone else sits more than one inning
Last as others have said: if you play with 4 outfields hide your worse players in right center and left center... right field is by far the most important outfield position in 10U as that player has to have the smarts to continually (every pitch) back up 1st when a runner is there, know if they can fire to first or hit cutoff, back up 2nd , back up right center... lots of stuff going on for this player - far more then the balance of the outfield at this age...your left field and right field should be able to cover past balls from both centers...
Apparently, this author has never seen a good 10U catcher in action.
EDIT: That said, the catcher described is pretty common.
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JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
Apparently, this author has never seen a good 10U catcher in action.
EDIT: That said, the catcher described is pretty common.
Seriously, I bet Maddie gets at least one runner a game if they are dumb enough to run on her more than a few times....my little one threw out two girls in a row on Sunday. The second one was off of a high pitch that bounced off the backstop and she still got her. Jury is still out about whether she is a pitcher or a catcher (insert joke about her dad here). She should differentiate by the end of summer but I am hoping for a catcher since I already have one of those pitchers.
In last Thursday's scrimmage game, Maddie went 3-for-3 in picking off runners (2 at 2B, 1 at 1B). The best was on an outside pitch in the dirt, which Maddie blocked, picked up, and fired with enough time for SS to make an easy tag. They stopped running after the 2nd inning.
Let your little one continue to do both as much as she is able. A player than can play anywhere is a good thing. There will be time to specialize later.
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Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
SMH at this thread. 10U should be much more about player development than winning IMO. Every player should be learning to understand the game and learning to play both IF and OF. If you do it properly (and have at least one reliable strike thrower/pitcher), all your players and the team will have improved significantly and winning will follow.
