The Little League Coach

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Fire Play

One of my most favorite plays is the "fire play". It is simple, and most teams use some variation of it, but calling and utilizing it as the "fire play" makes it simple to communicate w/ the players involved immediately.

What is the "fire play"? Very simply it is when the right fielder throws to first to retire the batter . The ole’ 9-3 out so rare but so exciting. Why do we call it the "fire play"? Because as the right fielder is approaching the ball, we can yell "fire, fire, fire, fire!" and then he can focus on fielding the ball. He doesn’t have to look up and make a decision thereby giving the runner an extra step.

The fire play is almost always close, so it is important to take every last inch away from the batter. Yelling to the fielder helps, having a first baseman w/ a good stretch helps also.

Catcher Backs Up

Finally, the catcher HAS to back up the fire play. He should run down the line and get in behind the first baseman in line w/ the throw. Quite often you will get a cheap out at second because the runners instinct is to immediately take off for second.

Do you have any cool plays you use? Let us know!

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Quick Play Drill

I found this pretty cool "quick play" drill at the Ohio Fastpitch Connection. They have a ton of drills on there, but most of them are not my style, too slow. I prefer drills that keep all the kids active and moving and simulate game situations. The "quick play" drill almost does this, so we modified it slightly. Follow is what we did.

Original Was Slow

The original quickplay drill had 2 lines of players w/ 5 balls lined up, grab one, throw to first, grab the 2nd, throw to first, etc. This is a great drill in and of itself, and if you only had 3 or 4 players max working on it, that would be fine. We have 12 to keep busy though and I hate to see kids standing around!

The Fix

To counter this we modified the drill. I added a catcher to the mix. Then had the 3B throw to 1B and 1B throw to the C. The problem with this was it slowed down the "quick play" portion of the 3B. So we added a "suicide" effect to it to help w/ conditioning also! Likewise, we set up a bunt station just outside of 3B. We had the kids leave their bats and hats at the bunt station and carry their gloves with them. (Of course we had a pitcher/catcher combination working at all times!)

It worked great! One of the best practices we had!

Here is the rotation:

1. Coach places the 5 balls in a line from 3B to home plate
2. 3B runs to the first ball and throws to 1B
3. 1B throws home and catcher simulates a tag
4. 3B backpedals (very important skill) to the 3B position and then charges back up to the 2nd ball. (This gives the 1B time to throw to the C)
5. This is repeated until all 5 balls are thrown to 1B and C
6. After the 5th ball, the 1B runs to 2nd and slides, then gets in line at the bunting station.
7. The C runs through 1B and gets in line there.
8. The 3B moves to the C line
9. The bunter goes and gets in line at 3B. (now that I think about it probably would have been better if we had our bunt station behind 3B, but we will update that next time)

Having at least one extra player at each station gives the players a chance to catch their breath and get all of their things in order for when it is there turn to perform.The coach has plenty of time to place the balls while the girls are moving up, but he has to be quick. Keeping this thing moving is the key to its success and increases the "fun factor" for the kids. They are moving and conditioning and don’t even know it!

Don’t be afraid to take things you know and modify them slightly. The kids love the variety and it keeps them focused at practices. This is very important as it is easy to lose them and then everyone is wasting their time. Do you have any cool drills that you modified to make them more exciting? Let’s hear about them!

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Key Position

First Base is a key position on the field in Little League. In the Big Leagues you can often hide a power hitter over there, but in Little League, it is important to get all the outs you can get! The other team only gets 18, so giving away just one gives them more than 5% more outs in the game! Drop 2, you are giving them more than 10% more outs than you get. It is easy to see why you need a good athlete at 1B

The first baseman doesn’t have to be the most nimble player, as they do not have too much territory to cover, but they must be able to catch and adjust to throws in the dirt or over their head. Likewise, the ability to stretch is important.

Accuracy Counts

First base should have a fairly accurate and strong arm. They often have to catch and immediately throw to third or home as the runner tries to advance on the respective fielders throw over to first to retire the batter . They should have a quick snap throw and they need to be minimally intelligent. They need to rotate to home plate , backup of the overthrown ball to the catcher w/ a runner on 3rd and cutoff for home from the outfield.

Left Handed

The ideal first baseman is left handed . They can make a quicker tag on a pickoff play, throw to second easier for a double play , cover the hole between 2nd/1st better, especially during a hit and run when the second baseman vacates to cover the bag, cover more territory to their right when holding a runner.

Key Characteristics

Here are some characteristics of a good pitcher:

• Left Handed
• Semi-Intelligent
• Strong
• Dedicated
• Accurate
• Tall
• Solid throwing fundamentals

A tall first baseman that can handle the ball in the dirt will save a lot of runs for your team. Practice throwing balls in the dirt coupled w/ ones up high to help them hone their skills.

Can you think of any other valuable characteristics a first baseman should have? Please share them.

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