1. Drills
  2. Softball
  3. Hitting

Live Pitch Simulation

Take full at-bats with a count against a coach throwing from behind a screen.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated October 30, 2026

Set up

A coach throws from behind an L-screen at a shorter distance.

Core: Soft toss. Beat your own best of solid contact out of 10.

Ages
14 and up
Time
20 min
Space
Gym or court
Bring
Bat, softballs, coach, L-screen, helmet, catcher or net
Level · skill
Advanced · Hitting

The steps

How it works

  1. A coach throws from behind an L-screen at a shorter distance.
  2. Start each at-bat 0-0 and keep the count out loud.
  3. Work 8 at-bats, deciding when to swing and when to take.
  4. Talk with the coach about one at-bat you would change.

Coaching point

One pitch at a time.

Safety: Wear a helmet with a face guard. The person tossing or pitching stays fully behind a protective screen.

Make it fun

Play it, don't drill it

Game version

Target-zone hitting: two teams of two take turns hitting off the tee toward zones in the field. Each team adds up only its own solid hits.

Challenge

Pick a setup: Less (tee), Core (soft toss), More (soft toss to a zone). Beat your own best of solid contact out of 10.

Story

You are a slugger in the championship game, and every swing is your turn at bat.

My best

Beat your own count

Beat your own best of solid contact out of 10. Only your own number counts: today against last time.

Practice makes progress

Print it now, or save it free

Free for families and teams

Save this drill to your child or team, free

Sign up and the free softball week for this age opens in your child's planner, kept to healthy limits. A coach can send this drill to the whole team as homework, and parents see every session logged.

14 days free for a family, no card · Running a team is always free

Does your child's coach know about this?

An email from you to the coach, with the words ready. Nothing is tracked and nobody is rewarded.