US Sports Softball: The 5 Biggest Mistakes Softball Coaches Make and Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Texas Longhorns Game 3 Highlights

 

• By Brandon Ogle

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This can definitely be the case in softball as well. In this article, I’ll discuss some of the biggest mistakes that plenty of softball coaches seem to make time and time again.

Mistake #1: Instructing All Players The EXACT Same

At the youth game, differences in skill sets might not be as distinct. However, trust me, they are there. The easy approach to coaching is running every player through the exact same drills. However, you have different types of players. Some are more speed focused, while others rely on the pop produced by their bat. With this said, coaches should be grouping players by skillsets for practice set-ups. The first half should focus on honing in on strengths and making those as pristine as possible. Then, with the second half of practice, focus on weaknesses. Look at the areas that are holding the player back from being a more complete player.

Mistake #2: Not Being the Coach

Not being the coach? Some of you might raise an eye at this one. With this said, what I’m stressing is the need to be the coach and sometimes this means discipline. I’m not talking about continuously yelling at your players, but rather using your position to train players. Occasionally, you’ll likely confront players that think they know more than the coach. Don’t let a negative attitude disrupt the rest of your team.

Mistake #3: It’s Not All About Winning

We live in a world where winning is sometimes viewed as always being the primary goal. Michael Jordan once said, “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Don’t be the coach that creates a culture where players think an “L” is a complete failure and any season that doesn’t end with a trophy is a disappointment. Once you let the culture get away, all of a sudden softball goes from fun to a burden.

Mistake #4: Thinking All Kids Should Fall in Love With the Game

This mistake is mainly applicable to youth coaches. I always say that youth coaches should be more focused on development, as opposed to racking up the trophies. At the same time, you need to understand not every player on a youth team is going to be “all-in” on a particular sport. Don’t take this as an insult. Some kids are just there for the social part. Don’t think that you need to be more disciplined to get them to love the game. For these kids, it might be more about teaching them some life skills instead of perfecting their softball talents.

Mistake #5: I’m the Expert

As a coach, it is your job to teach players and develop their skills. However, don’t be the coach that is never accepting feedback from anyone. Going along with this, you don’t want to be the one that is always coming up with random historical philosophies that will ‘supposedly’ transform your team. At the end of the day, it’s critical to find a happy medium between being strict and having fun. After all, softball is supposed to be fun, right?

At the end of the day, no coach is perfect. We’re all going to make some mistakes. Just don’t keep falling victim to the same one. Just as it should be with your players, learn from your mistakes!

 

US Sports Softball: How to Find and Develop Elite Softball Pitchers, Minnesota being sued for Boy dominating Girls Softball, and Oklahoma vs. Tennessee: '25 Women's College World Series Game 2 Highlights

 

• By Grant Young

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Countless youth and high school softball pitchers have impressive talent. But there’s a major difference between a pitcher who can perform at the game’s lower levels compared to one who is prepared to excel in college. 

And it can often be difficult to discern between a sure-fire college prospect and a pitcher who isn’t likely to succeed past high school. In fact, many of the tell-tale signs don’t be seen while the pitcher is performing on the field.

This is why it’s crucial to understand what to look for in a pitcher when it comes to recruiting them to the next level. 

And Texas high school softball coaching legend Amanda Wolf-Schramm is the perfect person to help coaches figure that aspect of their job out. 

Coach Wolf-Schramm is currently the head varsity coach at Smithson Valley High School in Texas. This past year, she earned the 400th win of her high school softball coaching career. Prior to her becoming Smithson Valley’s head coach in 2019, Coach Wolf-Schramm created successful programs at Texas’ Bastrop and Elgin high schools.

While Coach Wolf-Schramm is a high school coach, her ‘Pitching’ softball course from the Texas High School Coaches Association & Coaches Education Foundation contains a masterclass of wisdom for softball coaches of all levels. 

But Coach Wolf-Schramm’s lessons aren’t just for college softball coaches. Those coaches looking to develop pitchers at every level can gain wisdom on how to develop and hone their own pitching staff to make them more appealing to collegiate coaches and increase their chances of fulfilling their dreams of playing at the next level. 

We have taken some of the best nuggets from Coach Wolf-Schramm’s course and distilled them into bite-sized lessons that you can benefit from today. 

What to Look For in a Pitcher

Before a softball coach even begins to assess a pitcher’s ability on the field, Coach Wolf-Schramm believes the first thing they should be looking at is the pitcher’s positive work ethic. 

What exactly does this mean? It means that a pitcher should have the same work ethic regardless of whether there are eyes on them.

Coaches should want to recruit pitchers who are working just as hard in the bullpen by themselves or taking notes for their teammates in the dugout during the game as they are when their coach is standing right beside them. 

While this can be difficult to discern (most players have a good idea when they’re being watched, even if it’s subtly so), taking a bit of extra time to watch a player’s work ethic out of the corner of your eye can tell you a lot about whether they’re the type of person you can build a positive culture around. 

You also want to keep a keen eye on whether a pitcher is showing negative emotion when on the mound. Because pitching is such a rollercoaster ride, the most successful pitchers will remain even keel in the good moments and in the bad. And if a pitcher is reacting negatively to an umpire’s call, a teammate’s error, or any of the other negative things that can occur during a softball game, this should come off as a red flag. 

And another thing Coach Wolf-Schramm believes coaches should consider is whether a pitcher is a good athlete. She loves to see a pitcher playing another position when they’re not pitching. And at the very least, she wants to see that her pitchers at the high school level are also hitting, as well. If they are then they’re likely a good athlete, which is one of the best factors in assessing a player’s ability to perform at the collegiate level.

The Pitching Coach’s Role

Coach Wolf-Schramm believes that there are a few non-negotiable components that go into making a good pitching coach. 

The first one is communication. Coach Wolf-Schramm believes that every pitching coach should be calling constant, daily meetings with their pitching staff in order to assess what is going well, what must be worked on, and any challenges or hurdles that the pitching staff wants to address.

In addition, the pitching coach must act as a liaison for their pitchers and the team’s catchers. A ton of important information must be relayed between pitchers and catchers to maximize the chances of success in a game. And it’s the pitching coach’s responsibility to make sure that information is being discussed. 

In addition, pitching coaches have to be able to communicate and build relationships with their pitchers on an individual level. Why would a pitcher listen to their coach’s suggestions if they don’t trust them as a person, or feel like the coach doesn’t care about their best interest? 

All of these reasons show why communication is paramount to being a good pitching coach at any level of the game. 

Pre Season Workouts For Pitchers

Coach Wolf-Schramm has a few great pieces of advice when it comes to a pitcher’s workouts during the pre-season.

One is that, whenever they’re playing catch, they should do so with a home plate at the feet of who/whatever they’re throwing to. 

Because pitchers are inherently competitive, having a (likely rubber and transportable) home plate at their target’s feet is guaranteed to make them want to execute strikes. 

However, this doesn’t mean their target or catch partner should remain in a squat. Rather, just by having the home plate there, the pitcher will remember the purpose behind their play catch. They will pay more attention to detail about what they’re feeling while throwing and will be more keen to correct their mistakes. 

This leads to a more intentional, focused play catch that isn’t merely going through the motions. 

US Sports Softball: How to Perfect Pitch-Calling For Your Softball Team and WCWS predictions from the 2025 college softball bracket

 

• By Grant Young

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Calling pitches in softball can be one of the most challenging parts of being a softball pitching coach, regardless of which level you’re coaching at. 

There are various factors as to why pitch-calling presents a unique challenge. The pitching coach must take into account the batter's strengths and weaknesses, the game situation, and the team's overall strategy—all of which must be communicated to the pitcher and the catcher, who are often the ones who are making the final decisions on which pitch to throw.

Furthermore, the pitcher and catcher need to be in sync, which can be difficult in noisy or hectic game environments. Lastly, maintaining control and accuracy while keeping the batters guessing is crucial, and achieving this balance can be quite demanding.

There are some obvious times when calling a fastball makes the most sense, especially when you want to surprise the batter or when you need to bring the heat to challenge a strong hitter. It can also be useful in situations where you are ahead in the count and want to maintain control. Additionally, using a fastball early in the game can help establish dominance and set the tone for the rest of the match.

Yet, if you as a pitching coach believe calling a fastball in a situation is a no-brainer, the opposing hitter is likely thinking the same thing. This is why it’s crucial to understand when to break your typical pitch-calling patterns. And Amy Hunt can help you learn when and how to do so effectively. 

Coach Hunt has spent recent years working as a part-time Assistant Coach for Messiah College softball.

She was formerly an assistant coach with the team in 1998, where Messiah went to their first NCAA Final 6. Amy then continued her education, as she was a graduate assistant for the Marietta College softball team in Ohio.  She moved on to coach at Catoctin High School where she was the assistant coach for 1 year and head Varsity Coach for 6 years.

Coach Hunt has made a career out of trying to perfect pitch-calling. Her ‘Championship Pitch Calling System for Pitching, Catching and Coaching’ course is a great resource for any prospective pitch-callers at any level of softball. 

Why do STATS matter? 

Coach Hunt explains that being able to read and understand certain statistics makes a world of difference when trying to call pitches. 

One of the most important statistics to know is what a hitter’s hitting average is within the nine segments of the strike zone. Because every hitter is going to have a slightly different stance, goals at the plate, and preferred areas, having (and then using) information about how which pitch locations they hit will at and which they don’t can make a major difference in success on the mound. 

Coach Hunt makes it clear that a hitting average isn’t the same thing as a batting average, which is the more commonly used statistic. The difference between these is that, while a batting average measures a batter's performance by dividing the number of hits by the number of at-bats, a hitting average is simply the number of times they make contact with a ball in a certain area. 

This is crucial because it doesn’t take uncontrollable factors into account (like if a player hits the ball weakly but still gets a hit) like the batting average does. It will give an accurate indication of a player’s ability to make contact at the various segments of the strike zone. While collecting hitting average stats might sound difficult, it’s actually simpler to calculate than the batting average. A coach can just watch a recent hitter’s at-bats and chart what pitches they’re making contact with. 

Pitch Location - Pitch placement is CRITICAL!

Of course, any pitching coach or pitcher knows that the worst place to position a pitch would be in the middle of the strike zone. And it’s typical knowledge that throwing the ball on the outside corner is usually a great option.

But not enough thought is put into whether a pitch should be thrown at the top or bottom of the strike zone. Typically, a pitcher will always try to aim for low in the strike zone. And while that’s a good base strategy to have, the ability to throw a pitch for a strike at the top of the strike zone can spell the difference between a good and great pitcher. 

Even if a pitcher is just able to throw an occasional fastball at the top of the strike zone (or even above the strike zone, in a two-strike scenario with less than three balls), hitters love swinging (and missing) at pitches in this location. It will also adjust their eye level so they don’t get too comfortable with/can sit on a pitch that’s lower in the strike zone. 

Learning about Batter Weaknesses

As we mentioned previously, charting each batter’s hitting average will give you a good indication of where they like to hit the ball. But another integral part of this charting strategy is that it will likely give you an insight into what an opposing team’s coach is teaching their hitters, as it pertains to their hitting approach. 

If you notice that a team very rarely swings at non-fastballs low in the strike zone or on the outside corner, that is likely because their coach is instructing them to take those pitches. You will then be able to exploit that by focusing on throwing off-speed pitches either low or away, which will force the hitters to make adjustments.

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US Sports Softball: How to Create Runs on the Softball Basepaths and #1 Oklahoma vs #7 Florida Highlights

Going, Going, Gone! And More Excitement From The College World Series And More! Now Streaming On US Sports Radio

• By Grant Young

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Because the bases in softball are 60 feet away from each other, there’s a common misconception that softball baserunning isn’t as important a part of the game as hitting, fielding, or pitching. 

Yet, any coach who believes that’s true is doing themselves a disservice when it comes to maximizing their own team’s potential. 

A softball team’s ability to run the bases well can spell the difference between winning and losing. And because softball is a game of inches, learning how to teach and practice the fine details of baserunning (such as being able to slide effectively, crafting ways to score from third base, and communication between coaches and baserunners (and between baserunners and other baserunners)) could steal your team some wins throughout the course of a season; especially in the postseason, when the margin between teams is often minuscule.

And Wade Womack knows this better than just about anyone else. 

Coach Womack has been a head coach of various high school women’s softball programs for over two decades and has been running the Dripping Springs High School’s softball program in Dripping Springs, Texas, for over 10 years alone. Coach Womack has guided two teams to the State Tournament at Medina Valley and won the State Championship in 2007. 

This past 2024 softball season, Coach Womack’s Dripping Springs team won the 6A District 26 Championship. Head coach Wade Womack was named the district’s Coach of the Year. 

Coach Womack believes that the secret to his sustained success has been the advantage his teams have over opponents on the basepaths. He imparted a few of his best baserunning lessons and insights in his ‘Creating Havoc on the Basebaths & Other Philosophies’ course from the Texas High School Coaches Association. This course is a gold mine for any softball coach who wants to turn their team’s baserunning into a lethal winning weapon.

15 Ways a Runner Can Score From Third

While Coach Womack noted that there are probably some ways a runner can score on third that he missed, the fact that there are 15 is pretty astounding. In fact, we’ll note that Coach Womack missed a balk, so there are at least 16 ways a runner can score from third.

But Coach Womack’s 15 ways are: base hit (including single, double, and a triple), sacrifice fly, passed ball, wild pitch, obstruction, suicide squeeze, safety squeeze, fielder’s choice, straight steal of home, delayed steal of home, error off a batted ball, catcher overthrows pitcher after the pitch, catcher throws ball away on attempted pickoff, 1st and 3rd base strategies/set plays, and bases loaded walk/hit by pitch. 

And the reason Coach Womack brings these up are to highlight the importance of getting runners over to third base. Especially for a team that is more focused on creating contact and playing small ball as opposed to driving the ball out of the yard, a main focus of yours should be getting runners over to third base at all costs. 

Especially in the game’s lower levels, where mistakes among fielders and pitchers are more common, getting a runner to third base is nearly as good as scoring them outright. 

4 Bag Fly Ball Base Running and Communication Drill

In his course, Coach Womack details a drill that he likes to use to instill proper base running techniques and outfield communication among his players. He calls it the 4 bag fly ball base running and communication drill.

It begins with players starting at all four bases. From there, the drill starts with the runner at home running out a ground ball to first then turning inside after hitting the bag, in order to assess whether one of the middle infielders is being lazy and allowing an opportunity to steal second. 

After that, the runner who started on first will simulate a fly ball getting hit, where they get halfway to second base and watch to see whether or not the ball is caught. 

After that rep, the runners at second will practice tagging up and heading to third. When the ball is hit or thrown into the outfield, the runner will watch the ball with their drive foot always pointing to the next bag. As soon as the ball is caught, the runner should tag up and go for third. 

And the runner at third base will tag up and advance in the same way when it’s their turn. 

In addition, Coach Womack notes that while doing this drill, he’s hitting the fly balls between outfielders in two positions (ideally center and right field), and having them practice communication with one another.

Sliding

Coach Womack notes that learning how to slide properly is not only a crucial part of being a good team on the base paths, but it’s also integral to keeping your players safe.

One of Coach Womack’s rules is that players are not to slide head first into home plate under any circumstance. He also notes that coaches should be instructing players to slide to the outside of every bag, in order to best avoid the tag during a throw.

The one exception to this is if the runner is sliding into second base and the second baseman is coming toward the bag to cover. In this situation, the runner will likely want to slide toward the inside of second base in order to be as far away from that tag as possible. 

Another reason to slide to the outside of home plate is because, even if the catcher is obstructing the bag, that call rarely gets made (especially at the high school level). 

Incorporating these tools from Coach Womack is a great way to improve your team’s baserunning and begun running your way to wins.