home to first / 60 foot dash speed

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depends a little on timing method. but good rule of thumb is average speed right around 3.0-3.5 sec. the really, really fast runners will be around 2.7-2.9ish
Is there an official way to time? The first step they take? Swing of the bat?
 

daboss

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Is there an official way to time? The first step they take? Swing of the bat?
In the past even college coaches disagreed with a common method to time the runners. I sat thru a debate on this trivial subject listening till I was ready to fall asleep. I don't think they ever established a standard.

Just for fun, we used to have the girls stand in the box and yell swing and started the stopwatch when they broke to take their first step. If they batted right-handed, they started in that box, left-handed the left box. It is what it is.

I had a coach from Arkansas years ago tell me if I found him a girl that could run from home to first in 2.3 seconds he'd give her a full ride and he didn't care if she even knew how to play softball. He'd teach her how to get on base. Now I took that for what the message truly was. Speed kills in this game. You'd better be able to hit with power, or run like a deer, or spin a pitch around a telephone pole if you want to play with a top-rated team. All girls at that level throw hard. nobody cares....

Years ago, I think it was UCLA had a girl show up late in the dugout during the college World Series because she had to finish running in a track event before joining the softball team.
 

Stedman00

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some time like a sprinter, some after a swing, some allow for all to start like a lefty slapper swinging, etc. It's alot like other things, you'll recognize fast (and slow) when you see it.

And for the record, take any times claiming below ~2.7-2.8 secs with a huge salt shaker and get your own stop watch on them. below 2.7 is NOT common.
 

M & R Davis

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There’s also a difference between timing someone and their game speed. Coached a young lady that would never time very well or if just lined up and raced would never be at the front of the line. But her home to first time from the left side was excellent in games and got the pleasure to watch her be called safe many times on what looked like should be easy putouts. Aligns with when you see fast you’ll know it.
 

Ron

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Bunt the ball, start timing at the sound of contact and stop timing upon reaching the bag ... 11 steps from the right...10 steps from the left ... or less if they can do-it...
Ron
 

CARDS

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Stedman is right on with the times. We would start the ladies at the back of the box and start the timer on their first move.
Another huge factor is Softball IQ that impacts game speed times on the base pads and the ability to actually put the ball in play.
So that 2.7-3.5 in tryouts may actually be 3-3..5+ in games.
We had a lady on our HS team a while back. (you could time her with a egg timer that slow). However she had a good softball IQ, got great jumps on the base pads and could hit. Her senior year she went home to first more Xs than any player on the team and lead the league in home to home trips. So coaches need to consider all the variables.
 

HITTER23

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Fastest i ever saw was a player we had on my Hawks team named Alex Hendrix, Beavercreek, h.s. . We took our team to a camp and in front of 30 college coaches she ran off 3 consecutive 2.63's. D1's was all over her, but her grades werent there, was told theyd make it work lol. In the end the family wasnt comfortable with her going away to a school too far away.
 

CoachTEA

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Fastest i ever saw was a player we had on my Hawks team named Alex Hendrix, Beavercreek, h.s. . We took our team to a camp and in front of 30 college coaches she ran off 3 consecutive 2.63's. D1's was all over her, but her grades werent there, was told theyd make it work lol. In the end the family wasnt comfortable with her going away to a school too far away.
Fastest I ever had was Alehia Tucker - definitely somewhere in 2.5 to 2.6 range. She played basketball and softball at MSJ; I believe she was All-American her senior year. Deion Sanders like speed; once went second to home on a bunt. Hailey Spitler of the Outcasts had blinding speed as well. There was a game at Berliner where I swear she single handedly beat us. At 16u we played a team out of MS where all 3 outfielders were in the 2.7 to 2.8 range; crazy fast!!!
 

Txsoftballgsd

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I am going to attempt to time my daughter from home to first, and use the “at contact” method. I’ve never timed her during a game. We only have race/event times
 

Stedman00

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you know they are fast, when the lefty hits a 2 hopper to the pitcher and it's bang-bang, safe at 1b. Or the sky high infield pop up where she was rounding 2b, when the infield mis-played it and it dropped fair.
 

Txsoftballgsd

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I have video clip of a bunt and run to first base. But how do I time it? Sorry this may not be the right place to ask. I tried using iMovie?
 

Stedman00

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you go to a field, with stop watch, measure out 60'. start line.... click start on first move.... click stop when foot hits 1b...
 

Txsoftballgsd

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you go to a field, with stop watch, measure out 60'. start line.... click start on first move.... click stop when foot hits 1b...
Thank you! It’s a clip from AthletesGoLive so hopefully it works. I did post to YouTube thinking a timer might work on there. Lol. I’m learning. Here is the video. This isn’t her fastest for sure. But I think it will help me get a baseline time.
 

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