WebBall.com - Ping - Soft Toss Challenge

More game than drill...

Note: This drill provides a way to turn soft toss into a fun competition.The temptation is to drive it to the fences, but like all of baseball, success more often comes from the well placed line drive or Texas Leaguer.

SET-UP

This works best for a full-team practice - anywhere from 12 to 18 players - divided into 2 teams (6 to 9 each). Use small orange traffic cones or bring the bags from second and third towards each other to create a narrow fair-ball zone out to the left-center power alley.

If you have a lot of lefties - make the fair-ball zone more centered. Or if you have good scatter hitters and excellent fielders, you can adjust the bag-to-bag gap to suit the size of each team and their coverage range.

The two closest fielders must be inside the infield cut, another group of midfielders is halfway out, with deep outfielders near the warning track.

The team at bat advances and score 'runners' (imaginary) by hitting safely within the fair-ball zone. The batter must be at the plate, but the soft-toss server can be placed anywhere that helps the batter hit towards the cone.

SCORING

A coach should serve as umpire/scorekeeper - to call fair/foul hits, keep a mental record of the 'runners' on base, and those that 'cross' the plate to score. Here's the scoring...

STRIKE - any toss swung at and missed or any ground-ball that's stopped cleanly (no errors) by the infielders. (Tosses not swung at don't count - no balls, no walks.)
OUT - any ball hit foul (outside the 'zone' - no matter how near or far), any pop-up that doesn't get past the bags, any fly ball caught, or three strikes (of course). Three outs and the sides change.
SINGLE - any hit (grounder or flyball) that bounces past the infielders and is stopped by midfielders. Previous 'runners' are advanced one base (imagined - coach keeps track).
DOUBLE - any hit that bounces between the midfielders and outfielders or is dropped by the midfielders. 'Runners' advance two.
TRIPLE - any hit that gets by the far outfielders - in the air or on the ground. 'Runners' also advance three )clears the bases)
HOME RUN - any grounder that actually hits the outfield fence or any flyball that clears it (of course).

VARIATIONS

Put more pressure on the soft-toss server by counting every toss a strike - unless it's hit. (Soft toss is a legitimate baseball skill that every player should master.)
The team at bat can hit as soon as they have a batter and a tosser in position. So the defense has to hustle out there, which means they have to pay attention in the dugout. (Staying focused is also an important acquired skill.)
Compare this to our Live B.P. approach - use one or the other to keep your B.P. sessions - and each practice - more varied.