8U Rec Softball

Goals

1. Individual Skills

   1. Catch balls hit or thrown to them, this is the most important skill!  Catching is the skill that allows your child to protect themself from injury.

   2. Catching fly balls correctly.

   3. To throw with decent mechanics.

   4. To play first base in a safe way.  First basemen should catch balls thrown to them with their throwing side foot touching the inside side of the bag.  Touching the side of their foot to the inside side of the bag keeps their bodies out of the basepath and helps prevent collisions between the first baseman and the batter-runner.  Putting the throwing side foot in contact with the bag gives the first baseman the greatest range for reaching thrown balls.

   5. Batting, the mechanics of a good swing.

   6. Plate coverage, where to stand in relation to home plate when batting.

   7. Understanding each player's strike zone.

   8. Identifying where pitches were located in the strike zone grid.  For example, high and inside.

2. Team Skills

   1. Communication: calling for the ball.

   2. Backing up plays instead of scrumming around the ball.

   3. Communicating the number of outs before each play

   4. Communicating where critical plays may occur

3. Knowledge of the game

   1. How to run the bases.

   2. Where players start for each defensive position.

   3. Knowing where force out play are possible.

   4. Fly outs.

   5. Understanding simple double plays. For example 2nd to 1st or a caught fly ball to a runner who didn't tag up.

   6. Understanding which plays are best before each pitch.

   7. Understanding "tagging up" on fly balls.

   8. Keep the batting order

Time Frame

Spring Season

In addition or instead of the general outline above:

• Team assignment: your coach will contact you in late March or very early April to introduce themself and let  you know the team practice schedule.

• Practices:

  • Start early to mid March.  

  • We schedule three practices a week.  Two will be on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening from 6:00PM-7:00PM.  These will be the same night each week.  The third will be early or late Saturday morning.

• Games start late April.  Early in the season games will be on Saturday and one weeknight with a practice on the other weeknight.  Later in the seasson it may be necessary to schedule two weeknight games.

Fall Season

This season is for players rising from T-Ball to Rookie and returning players who will play Rookie the next Spring season.   The focus is on developing players for the Spring season.

FAQ

1. What night will we practice, my child has another activity on xxxday.  Teams practice on the same night each week.  If your child has another activity during the week you can let us know about the nights that work best in the "Special Requests" section on our registration page.  We will do our best to avoid conflicts.

2. Equipment You Must Provide

   1. Baseball Glove - Make sure it is NOT too big or stiff.  Young players need smaller, more flexible gloves, that allow them to comfortably hold their glove hand out, open and close the glove, and see around the glove.

   2. Shoes - Any regular pair of sneakers will do.  Cleats are not needed, but if you have cleats, they must be plastic, metal cleats are not allowed!

3. Equipment We Provide

   1. Team shirt and hat.  We do not require baseball pants at this level. If you do buy baseball pants, please get grey pants to everyone with baseball pants match.  The shirts and hats will arrive before the first game.

4. My child has played several seasons of Rookie, can he move up to Minors?   Please email registration@pineforge.org with your child's name, and last coach.  We will contact the coaches who know your players skill level and will let you know our recommendation.  It's not unusual for a player with several seasons to advance.