Completed Event: Softball versus No. 2 Seed Oklahoma State on May 7, 2026 , Loss , 0, to, 7
Final Score
Softball
0
vs No. 2 Seed Oklahoma State
7
The University of Utah Athletics
Practice Makes Perfect
3/6/2003 12:00 AM | Softball
March 6, 2003
By: Sabrina Fuller, Specialty Reporting Class
Practice may not be the most exciting part of a softball player's life, but it certainly takes up most of her time. A player commits to the time consuming practice schedule, because it is crucial to fine tuning the game. Each player will find she has her own unique practice routine highlighting muscles, techniques, and strategy for each position. Before each practice, the team goes through dynamic warm-ups. During dynamic warm-ups, the team members will line up to toss medicine balls. The weighted basketball looking exercise aids will help stretch the body.
Pitchers and catchers have already practiced for an hour before the rest of the team arrives. Unlike in baseball, there is no rest for a pitcher from the previous day's game. Head Coach Mona Stevens will have her work on a pitch that wasn't working the day before.
During batting practice, players don't stand in cages and hit ball after ball as if they are at commercial batting cages common to arcades. There are two different areas. One area has two cages where players will work on batting and pitchers will work on throwing.
The other batting practice area has a pitching machine. This is used for bunting practice. The batter tries to bunt the ball to specific places on the floor. The coaches place bases on the floor to use as reference points.
When the pitchers and catchers are working with the rest of the team, coach Stevens pulls out her book of pitches. Just as if in a game, she will tell the catcher the pitch she wants, and expect the catcher to signal the pitcher. Since the infielders can also see the signal, they practice setting up defensively for each specific pitch. Softball pitches are designed to cause the batted ball to go specific places in the diamond. Each player becomes trained to automatically set up for each pitch.
Infielders and outfielders also have drills called "everydays". The "everydays" help with hand and foot coordination. Teams of two players throw short hops back and forth. The short hops generally bounce once and peak about a foot off the ground before they are caught. The bounces simulate one of the hardest softball hits to judge. Softballs will often hop in an opposite direction than the one the player anticipated.
They will also work on catching the short hops in different positions by having to turn their mitts in forehand and backhand positions. Coach Stevens wants them to also practice the short hops from their knees. Additionally, she has the fielders lunge for the balls as they skip across the floor.
The fielders get off their knees to look at the ceiling for bloopers. Coach Stevens throws the ball straight up into the air and watches the players scramble to catch the ball in a crowd. Like everything else in practice, the throws are repeated until the coach is happy with the day's work.
If there is no game the next day, there will be another practice. It will be almost exactly like the one just completed. There will be the medicine balls, the batting cages, the pitches, and the "everydays". The idea is to make the conditioned responses and reflexes as routine in the games, as they are in practice.
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