Game strategy, offense bunting to take the Lead. No outs, Go ahead run on 3rd.

[Admin]

Game strategy, offense bunting to take the Lead. No outs, Go ahead run on 3rd.

Game Situations

1.) 14 under Girls Fastpitch Team

2.) Bottom of the 5th inning.

3.) Score 5-5

Defense Weakness & Strength

1.) The girls playing second base is around 4'7" tall and struggles on high hits or balls thrown by the infielders about shoulders level or higher. Beside that she fast and has great range.

2.) The girl playing at 1st base, is around 5'8".

3.) Their 3rd base player is rock solid defensive player. Great arm and good control on her throws.

4.) The Coach has moved his girl at 1st base to 2nd base and 2nd base to 1st base and has used this as their bunt defense.

Offense Strength & Weakness

1.) The base runner on 3rd speed from 3rd to home is 3.67.

2.) Your teams struggling at the short game, but the girl at the plate has not. She has 2 RBI already in this game.

She sac bunt once for RBI.

And she has a sacrifice fly ball to center field for her other RBI.

Question , are you given her the green light to hit away, or are you going to have her lay down the bunt?


Join #TeamTSZ ask me how!

 

[JoeA1010]

I need to know more about her as a hitter. The better of a hitter she is, the more likely I am to swing away. If I am going to squeeze (or even lay down a sac type of bunt) in this situation, it will more likely be with one out instead of zero. If I squeeze with no outs, that is my only shot to score the runner, as a failed attempt will likely be an out at the plate or a double play on a pop up. If I let this hitter hit away and she doesn't get the job done, I can still bunt with one out.

 

[DougA10]

Swing the bat, there is no way I would bunt in that situation.

 

[Coach_Tom]

What is a "bunt"?

 

[spartansd]

Seriously, you hit.

At 14U the better teams will just load the bases orrrrrr pick girl off 3rd orrrrr just straight wheel it.

You gotta be able to get a hit.

 

[JoeA1010]

spartansd:

Are you saying the better teams will let runners reach first and second to keep the girl on third from scoring with no outs? If that's what teams will do, then I'll bunt twice and take two free base runners, all in return for creating a force at the plate. Now I have a decent chance at a big inning, which in this situation will almost certainly guarantee me the win, whereas a one-run lead in the 5th will certainly help, but not guarantee anything.

I'm not sure that's what you meant, though?

 

[Blue Ice]

First thing I do is get a pinch runner at 3rd...

 

[Coach_Dave]

I too would need to know more about the hitter (like her speed), but I would lean towards a bunt to put pressure on the defense. At 14U, there is still a bit of indecision when it comes to these situations. I have seen a lot of bad things happen to the defense on bunts. There is a decent chance there will be no throw, in which case you would have a runner on 1st and 3rd. Girl on 1st steals, now you have 2nd and 3rd with no outs.

 

[Ron]

forum,
Offense:..Runner on 3rd with no outs... Bunt.. Defense: we need a strike-out and we need a pitcher that is capable of locating pitches and has a change-up... We want to avoid a hard-hit ball...While knowledge of the opponents skills could/would be helpful, most teams this age lack consistency... Good teams always seem to have good luck...
Ron

 

[FP CIA]

Every player needs to be able to execute a bunt in these situations no matter where they bat in the line up. Once the player at bat has proven they can execute the bunt very well in practice or in prior games without using multiple pitches to do it then my strategy is this.

I give the batter the opportunity to hit away to drive the run in until they have a strike on them. Then I would put the bunt on. In other words, prove you can put a bunt down with one strike and you will get the opportunity to hit away. First strike is yours, the second one is mine.

If experience has proven the batter needs all their strikes to get down a bunt, then I bunt to take the lead in the 5th inning.

With that all said, if I'm the coach then I had darn well have already tested the defense and how they handle the bunt by the 5th inning. Test the defense early in the game just for these situations late in the game so you know where you want your batter to bunt the ball. In this situation, this game is won in practice. If you haven't practiced these situations 100's of times in practice then you have a tool box with no tools in it. So just hit away.

 

[FP CIA]

If I am the defense then as a coach yell to my defense “152”. My defense looks at their wrist bands and knows exactly what is about to happen because they have practice it over and over.

The pitcher throws a pitch out while my ‘3B and 1B crash home, everyone in the infield is yelling “bunt”. The batter and the runner on 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] freeze for a second thinking they missed a sign (given the old fashion way). My catcher fires to the SS covering 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] and the runner is picked off.

The other team is demoralized and we of course win the game (see previous post above).

 

[DougA10]

At 14u you should be able to get the out at first and keep the run from scoring, unless the squeeze is on. If the runner goes on the throw you should have a double play.