Runner Tagging From Third …who is the cut?
The Little League World Series. When was that last played? Seems like forever after having most of 2020 cancelled. Thinking back to previous years’ broadcasts, they included profiles about individual kids and teams telling of their journeys to Williamsport. There were the highlights of spectacular plays, stellar pitching performances and huge home run blasts. These were fun to watch; to see life-long memories in the making for those kids.
Big moments aside, looking at the tournament as a whole, the games are still played by kids. Each year has plenty of mistakes, miscues, and plays not executed correctly. These are reminders that these talented kids are still learning a game that is difficult to master.
(see the two drills further down in the article)
‘Lose’ Fewer Games
Each team in Williamsport overcame struggles along the road to the Little League World Series. To progress far in any tournament, adversities are faced, and some luck is involved. All teams benefit from mistakes made by their opponents along the way. Consider this thought: in youth baseball and softball, more games are ‘lost’ then are ‘won’. Teams at all levels of all sports advance to the end of a playoff or tournament with a combination of talent, skillful play, a bit of luck …and by limiting mistakes.
A Life Changing Play
In 2014 I was on hand to witness a play that possibly changed the lives of the kids and families of two hugely talented All-Star teams from the state of Washington. One team went home at the end of the day, the other ended up in Williamsport.
It was the Washington State Championship Tournament. Pacific Little League from Edmonds, a suburb north of Seattle, against the Federal Way All-Stars, a team from a neighborhood south of Seattle. Pacific made it to the championship game through the losers bracket, requiring them to beat Federal Way twice in order to advance to regional play.
Going into the fifth inning of the first game the teams were tied 1-1. The action featured great pitching and solid defense. In the top of the frame Pacific had worked a runner to third base with one out. The next batter lifted a fly ball to right field; deep enough for the runner to tag up. Seeing a strong throw towards the plate the runner, who had taken off for home, stopped determining it was not worth the risk.
The throw tailed a few feet up the third base line. The catcher did a nice job moving off the plate to get in front of the ball. It took a tricky hop, bounced off the catcher’s chest and kicked away towards the third base dugout. The base runner, remaining alert, dashed home with the go-ahead run.
Pacific held on to win the first contest 2-1. In the second game, a demoralized Federal Way team struggled. Pacific handily won 12-2; the game ending early because of the mercy rule. Pacific won the regional and advanced to the Little League World Series with the honor of representing the Northwest Region.
Can a Coach Be Too Smart?
The missing link on that play was no player in position to cut off the throw from the outfield. Cut that throw off on the fly, the play ends; two out and the score still tied. That would give the Federal Way Ace the chance to retire the final batter and get out of the inning unscathed.
The Federal Way team may have scratched out a run, won the State Championship, won the Regional (in Pacific’s place), and THOSE kids, coaches and parents may have enjoyed the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Williamsport and play in the Little League World Series.
But they will never know.
It can be argued, the Federal Way team was a ‘victim’ of having a coach who was ‘too knowledgeable’. Watching their manager during the afternoon, it was clear this was a man with extensive baseball experience and knowledge. Not just at the youth level, but at higher levels of play as well. That expertise was the source of the defensive mistake made by the Federal Way kids.
The 60’ Game is Played Differently
The Federal Way team ran their cut-relay plays they way they are done on a 90’ diamond. The 60’ game is played and coached differently than the game on the big diamond. In 90’ baseball the third baseman is the cut relay to home on balls hit to left field; the first baseman is the cut-relay on balls hit to center and right field. It’s an either-or situation that the defensive players need to recognize, at game speed, and determine who is responsible to be the cut-relay player. The pitcher’s responsibility on throws to home from the outfield, when playing on the big diamond, is to back-up home plate.
On the 60’ (& 70’) diamond the pitcher is always the cut-relay player to home regardless of which outfield position the ball is hit to. This eliminates decision making, “Am I the cut or is it the other guy?”. The first and third basemen are always responsible for covering a base. There is no decision making, no chance to forget one’s responsibility.
Why are the responsibilities different in 60’ baseball? First and foremost is simplicity. Regardless of where the ball is hit, each player’s responsibility remains the same. In the game played on the larger diamond, most players have settled into one position. Teams at that level tend to practice more, so players get more reps to master the responsibilities of their position. Additionally, at higher levels, fewer players pitch and play other positions.
Kids playing on the smaller diamond are still moving around the field playing at quite a few spots. The top 3-4 athletes usually play a prime defensive position when not pitching: shortstop, first base and/or catcher. In most cases these teams do not get the practice time that allows the kids the reps needed to master the nuances of each position they play.
The next reason for having the pitcher as the cut, the kid pitching is usually one of the team’s best athletes. In a critical situation involving the opponent potentially scoring, plus the need to manage the other runners, it is advantageous to have the ball in the hands of a top player.
Finally, in most cases, especially in urban settings, the distance between home plate and the backstop is as little as 15’-20’. There is not enough room for a pitcher to get far enough beyond the plate to effectively back-up a poor throw.
What Went Wrong on The Throw to Home?
The losing team had been trained to have the pitcher move behind the plate to back-up throws to home as is done on the big field. There was not much space between home plate and the backstop. As the ball was sailing home, the pitcher was standing with his back against the fence, a bit to the first base side of home plate. There was no room for him to get behind home. He ended up being a spectator on the play.
The first baseman was supposed to be the cut off but failed to get into position. Can’t blame the kid; with pretty much absolute certainty, I’ll state that he did not play first base all the time. (Most Little League All-Star teams include the shortstops from all the regular season teams. A major challenge All-Stars coaches face, is training all those shortstops to play positions they may not have played before.) That kid likely got only a few reps at first base during one or two practices when the team was working on relays to home during their All-Star preparations. He simply did not have the opportunity to make reacting to the situation instinctual and habit.
Bottom line, the right fielder had 130’ of open space between him and the catcher. He Did make a great throw; it was a 125’ laser but was slightly off-line and the hop tied up the catcher.
If a player had been in position to cut the throw, it would have been a 70’ laser, caught on the fly and held by the cut man. The runner would have stayed at third, the cut man would have flipped the ball to the pitcher. Play over; bring the next batter to the plate.
How Do We Teach This Play?
We begin the teaching process by drilling on a Mini Diamond (see diagram). When we compact a drill space the activity is more productive, and players learn faster. The closer kids are to the coach, the less likely they are to get distracted; they hear and understand the ‘first time’. Communication is improved and, most importantly, players get a lot of reps in a short period of time.
Eliminate Unnecessary Factors that Impede Learning
What is the objective when practicing this play? Answer: players learn positioning, communication, and adjusting to changing circumstances - do we have a realistic chance to get the runner at home? Do we cut the throw to make a play at another base? Do we cut the ball and hold it? (no runners attempting to advance). Teaching, learning, and practicing these aspects do not require using a full field and making full distance throws.
Coaches, think of how many times drills break down because kids fail to play catch. When training team play, the playing catch aspect is the final step in the process. In the early stages of learning, by using a mini diamond, players are close enough to each other that all throws can be made using an underhand toss (technique with a high success rate). Rarely does the failure to play catch rear its ugly head and disrupt the flow of the drill.
We Practice Playing Catch Every Day
The only element that is added, when we get on the full field, is full-distance throws. During our daily, structured and disciplined, Playing Catch Practice segment, kids work on the same 55’-65’ throw (depending on age) that is required to execute a relay. These two elements, positional responsibilities and playing catch, are meshed when we advance to training this play on a full field.
The Drill Progresses to a Full Field
The next diagram illustrates the cut-relay play to home with the responsibilities of all nine players included. As we get closer to, and into, the season our kids ‘know the drill’. We can run a productive cut-relay session as a 15-minute segment of a practice using the full field. At that point, our ‘coaching’ is more ‘reminding’ than ‘teaching’. Given the kids’ familiarity with the play, we can make the activity more dynamic and fun by including base runners.
Make It Into a Conditioning & Competition Drill
The additional defensive players involved: (1) get reps reacting to the ball ‘off the bat’, then (2) cover a Base or Back-up. This requires them to sprint to the point where their defensive responsibilities for the play are fulfilled. A base runner at second base is included, who is attempting to score. We add a base runner (batter) at home who sprints to second base during each repetition of the drill.
The two outfielders who do not handle the ball, are sprinting 60’-80’ (remind them, baseball/softball is a sprinting game). We have two base runners that are sprinting the distance between two bases. This group is one-third of our team. Have them do four reps (base runners each get to score twice …all the kids will want to compete to beat the throw to the plate; want to give each the same number of opportunities), then rotate them into defense and rotate four defensive players to outfield/base running ‘station’.
(Note: use a throw down base as a ‘home plate’ for the base runners. Set it next the actual home plate (same set up as a ‘safety base’ that is used at first. There is no need to risk contact between the catcher and base runner. The catcher puts down a tag after catching the ball. A coach plays umpire, making an out-safe determination. …while we coaches are concerned with execution of the relay, the kids are concerned about the out-safe call. It is a big deal to them!!)
(Note 2: In the early stages [first couple of days] of practicing the play on a mini-diamond, explain to the kids that the quicker they demonstrate they understand and can execute their positioning and communication responsibilities, the sooner we can move up to doing the drill on a full field with base-runners competing against the defense. This is the carrot to motivate them to focus and learn quicker.)
Rotate the entire team through defense and the ‘conditioning’ station twice. The second round at the Conditioning station switch the kids between outfield and base running. Two times through the entire rotation each player sprints four times as an outfielder and four times as a base runner. Not only are all players getting conditioned, they are developing base running skills and habits for what to do when the ball is not hit to you.
Assuming a team has 12 players, the entire drill involves 24 reps (possibly a couple extra …disasters do happen in practice where we need to re-run a drill rep). Including time for breaking the kids into three groups and giving an overview, we can complete the drill in 15 minutes.
Run the Drill as Part of Pre-Game Practice
After advancing to the full field we do not abandon the mini-diamond format. We can plug this drill into the 10-minute ‘Team’ segment of Pre-game Practice.