Softball,Baserunning,How,Aggre sports Softball Baserunning - How Aggressive Do You Go?

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}Overthe weekend I was working with Erin, one of my former players (who is still astudent) on her baserunning skills. Actually, that's a misnomer. We weren'treally working on skills. We were working on the mental side instead — knowingwhat to do, and working on her opening up her game on the bases. You see, shehas legitimate speed. Not sure where she is now, but I know she was 3.0 home tofirst 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 tostation instead of realizing just what her speed could do on the rest of thebases, so we went out on a field to try and change that thinking. A big part ofher "conservative" running was a fear of making an out. She'd takethe easy base, but was reluctant to push the envelope even a little bit despitemy encouraging everyone on the team to always "think two bases" whenrunning. That's not unusual. Softballplayers don't like to make mistakes, and they sure don't like to get thrownout. Yet the fact is if you're ever going to be any good as a baserunner youhave to accept that you will make some mistakes, and you will get thrown outoccasionally. That's just the nature of the game if you're going to beaggressive. I heard that same speech at the NFCA Coaches College class ondeveloping a run-producting offense. I believe it was Jay Miller, former headcoach of the USA National Team and Mississippi State who said if you're aggressiveon the bases as a coach you're going to get some runners thrown out — often atinopportune times. If you can't live with that, you'll never get the benefitsof being aggressive.InErin's case, one of the things I did was walk her into the outfield so shecould see the challenges from the other side. When we talked about going firstto third on a ball hit to right, I walked her out there and had her look at thethrow the right fielder would have to make to get her out. Not just from onearea, but a few different ones. I think she started to see that the pressure inmost cases was on the fielder rather than the runner. After all, all she had todo was run hard and make a quick left turn at second. But the fielder had tofield the ball, set her feet, and quickly make a long throw right to the bag. Ifthe throw was off-line, or too late, Erin was going to get in easily. If the fielderdid everything right, the third baseman still had catch the ball and apply atag while Erin was charging hard at her — not always easy to do. Hopefully shegot the point that being aggressive creates opportunities, particularly whenyou're fast. Also that you're playing percentage, not getting a guarantee.Therehave been times when, as a coach, I've gotten a runner thrown out at home andkilled an inning. I know that violates the cardinal rule about not making thefirst or last out at home, but when I go back over it later more often than notit was still the right decision. The reason I feel that way is because in orderto get my runner out, the other team has to execute a perfect throw from theoutfield, along with a perfect relay throw and a tag — something they haven'tdone up until now. The odds are in my favor. But just like in any form ofgambling, the odds or percentages are no guarantee of success. As a coach, oras a player, you have to decide how risk-averse you are. If you never want tomake an out on the bases, being conservative is the way to go. But if you'replaying to win, and unable to outright dominate your opponent, being aggressivemay just be your best option. Just be ready to take the heat if it doesn'twork.Anyway,that's the way I see it.