Have you ever noticed that softball is a sport of errors?
There are all kinds of errors. They happen in every game.
Usually, the team that makes the least amount of errors wins.
What is the cause of all these errors?
Most of the time, errors are caused by one of these 4 factors:
1) faulty mechanics
2) lack of focus
3) Too rushed or pressed
4) Lack of confidence and hesitation
I would like to talk about #2.
This is the easiest one to fix.
It takes time to fix mechanics or even more time to build confidence. You can train speed of execution or working fast under pressure but that also takes time and effort.
However, any player can learn quickly what to focus on and almost instantly reduce the number of errors they make as a result of poor focus – especially on defense.
If you aren’t focus on the right thing or aren’t thinking about the right thing, you are much more likely to make an error.
When you are on defense, you must play one pitch at the time and make the play in your head ahead of the time.
I know you’ve heard these things millions of times. However, a lot of errors that we see today are still the results of not applying those two basic concepts.
But what do we mean by playing the game one pitch at the time exactly?
We mean by that you shouldn’t focus on what happened before in the game neither about what’s going to happen later but only focus on the next pitch.
And what do we mean by making the play in your head exactly?
You have to analyze the situation (who’s hitting, any runner on bases, how many outs, what inning is it, etc.) and taking into consideration all those factors, you need to anticipate what you will do with the ball if it is hit to you.
Bottom line, you try to rehearse in theatre of your mind what you’ll have to do if the ball is hit to you on the next pitch so that you are ready when it happens.
That’s all. Again very basic but worth emphasizing again.