Softball Practice Plans by Age: 10U to High School + Template

This page is a set of softball practice plans a coach can run tomorrow. It starts with a 90-minute structure that works from 10U to varsity, then fills that structure in for each age group: 10U, 12U, 14U and high school, plus a plan for the nights you are stuck in a gym. There is a blank template at the bottom, and there is no email gate on any of it. Print the page or keep it open on your phone at the fence.

It is written for fastpitch. The distances, the ball, the stealing rules and the pitching and catching stations are softball's, not a baseball plan with the word swapped.

Jump to a plan:

• The 90-minute structure
• 10U · 12U · 14U · High school
• Indoor practice
• Printable template · Drill index

What a good softball practice plan looks like

Most practice plans fail for the same three reasons: too many players in one line, too many new drills, and no plan for the pitchers and catchers, who end up throwing to each other in a corner while the coach runs infield. Fix those three and the rest is detail.

• Stations of three or four, no lines. Twelve players at one tee means one swing every two minutes each. Four stations of three means a swing every twenty seconds. Everything below is built on stations rotating on a timer.
• The same shape every week. Players should know what comes after throwing without asking. When the structure is familiar, the coaching goes into the reps instead of the transitions.
• One thing to fix per practice. Pick it before you leave the house and build two stations around it. Everything else is maintenance.
• Pitchers and catchers get their own block. They peel off during throwing and get a station of their own in the defensive block. A 12U pitcher who never throws a bullpen at practice is being trained by her parents, not by you.
• Everyone throws, everyone hits, everyone fields, every practice. The plan is not finished if one of those is missing for any player.
• End on time. The close is five minutes and it is on the plan. Coaches who run long teach players that the clock does not matter, and then wonder why warm-up starts late.

The 90-minute softball practice structure

Six blocks. The minutes shift by age, and the 10U and indoor plans, each on its own page, run shorter, but the order does not change.

1. Arrival and dynamic warm-up, 10 minutes. Jog, skips, lunges, arm circles, band work if you have bands. Players who arrive early start early; there is no waiting for the whole team.
2. Throwing progression, 10 minutes. Wrist flips, one knee, standing at short distance, then out to a distance that matches the age, then back in with a target. Pitchers and catchers split off at the halfway point.
3. Defensive stations, 25 minutes. Three stations, eight minutes each, rotate on a whistle. Pitchers and catchers are their own station.
4. Hitting stations, 25 minutes. Tee, front toss, live or machine, and a short-game station. Every player hits at every station.
5. Situational and team, 15 minutes. One situation. Run it until it is right, not until the clock says stop.
6. Close, 5 minutes. One thing we fixed, one thing for next practice, and what the players do between now and then.

The same structure as a table. The "coach cue" column is the sentence that starts the block, so the transition takes ten seconds, not two.

If you are the only adult, run two stations plus one self-run station: a tee into a net, a wall for short hops, or a partner drill with a rep count written on a card. Two coaches can run three stations comfortably. Three coaches can run four, which is where the hitting block gets good.

Softball practice plans by age

The structure holds from 10U to varsity. What changes is the ball, the distance, the rules, and how much the players can absorb. Each tier below gives you what changes at that age, and every tier has its own full page with complete plans and drills. The rules are USA Softball's Junior Olympic rules; rec leagues and other sanctioning bodies vary, so check yours before you teach a rule.

10U softball practice plan

What changes at 10U. An 11-inch ball, a 35-foot pitching distance, 60-foot bases. Under USA Softball rules the dropped third strike does not apply at 10U, so catchers do not have to throw to first on a strikeout, and runners may leave the base once the pitch is released. Many rec leagues restrict stealing at this age, often no stealing home, and some run coach-pitch or hold runners until the ball reaches the batter, so know your league's rule before you spend fifteen minutes on it. This is the first tier where the game looks like softball, and the plan is built around what a ten-year-old can hold: seven-minute stations, one correction at a time, 30 to 40 counted pitches for the girls learning to pitch, and a score on the last block so the reps happen.

The full 10U softball practice plan has three complete plans (90-minute, 75-minute short night, and pre-game), the first-year pitcher and catcher block, the ten drills that matter at 10U, and the places leagues differ most at this age.

12U softball practice plan

What changes at 12U. The ball goes to 12 inches, the circle moves to 40 feet, and the dropped third strike is in play. This is the jump. Pitchers who were lobbing at 10U are throwing hard enough that catchers have to block, runners leave on release and steal on any ball in the dirt, and a team that cannot handle a bunt or a passed ball gives away four runs an inning. The plan shifts from "learn the skill" to "run the play," the situational block becomes the most important fifteen minutes on the field, and the pitcher and catcher station stops being optional.

The full 12U softball practice plan has three complete plans (90-minute, 75-minute short night, and pre-game), the pitcher and catcher block, and the ten drills that matter at 12U.

14U softball practice plan

What changes at 14U. The circle moves to 43 feet, where it stays through high school and college; the 12-inch ball, the 60-foot bases, the dropped third strike and open stealing carry over from 12U. Pitchers throw movement now, or are learning to, and hitters see drop balls and change-ups from girls who can locate, so the hitters' timing and the catchers' receiving move with the circle. The defensive plays get more complex: first-and-third both ways, cuts and relays from the outfield, and bunt defenses with a rotation. Game speed is close to what they will see in high school, which is why the situational block runs with a full defense and live runners, why the plan runs a full 90, and why a pitcher's week, across a travel team, a school team and a lesson, becomes a conversation with her parents.

The full 14U softball practice plan has three complete plans (90-minute, 75-minute short night, and pre-game), the pitcher and catcher block for the 43-foot circle, first-and-third from both sides, and the ten drills that matter at 14U.

High school softball practice plan

What changes in high school. The rules are NFHS, adopted and modified by each state association: 43-foot circle, 60-foot bases, a 12-inch ball, seven-inning games with a state-adopted run-ahead rule, and a DP/Flex lineup the coach has to learn cold. What changes most is the season. Tryouts and cuts, a JV feeding the varsity, athletes arriving from basketball in March, and games two or three days a week from the second week on, so practice is maintenance and situational work rather than building. The two-hour pre-season practice becomes a 90-minute in-season one, the situational block runs twenty-one outs, and a staff of three pitchers has to be scheduled across a week with games in it, in counted reps on a whiteboard.

The full high school softball practice plan has three complete plans (a two-hour varsity practice, a 90-minute in-season practice and a pre-game day), the pitching-staff block for a seven-inning schedule, JV and the multi-sport athlete, and the nine drills that matter at varsity.

Indoor softball practice plans

What changes indoors. Rain, January, or a field the football team owns until March. The rule sheet does not move: same circle, same bases, same players. What moves is what the room allows: no full-distance throwing, no live fly balls, a hard floor, a clock somebody else set, and one cage, which is the real problem, because the easiest indoor practice to run is ninety minutes of hitting with eleven players watching. A gym is good for the rest of the list: mechanics, catcher reps on a mat, pitcher bullpens in a lane at the age's distance, baserunning footwork on throw-down bases, and team defense walked through at walking speed with a soft ball. Tennis balls or soft-covered balls for anything thrown toward a wall, a screen in front of every front toss, and a portable plate for the pitchers.

The full indoor softball practice plans page has three complete plans by the space you have (a full gym with a cage, a half gym with no cage, and a room with no throwing at all), how to adapt each for 10U through high school, the pitcher and catcher block for a gym, and ten indoor drills.

Printable softball practice plan template

Copy this table, fill in the stations, and put it on the fence. The minute column is pre-filled for a 90-minute practice; change it to 75 for 10U or indoors. The 10U, 12U, 14U and high school pages linked above are this template filled in.

Two rules for filling it in. The one thing you are fixing goes in the focus column at the top, and two stations serve it. The close row is written before practice, not after; if you do not know what you want fixed by minute 85, the plan is a list of drills.

Drill index

The drills named in the plans above, grouped by skill, one line each.

Throwing

• One-knee progression. Glove-side knee down, throwing-side knee up, so the arm slot and the wrist snap are right before the feet get involved.
• 21. Partners at a distance that matches the age; a chest-high throw is two points, a catchable throw is one, first to 21. Accuracy with a score attached.
• Out and in. Long toss out to the age's distance, then back in to a target with game arm slots. The outfield's conditioning.

Infield

• Short hops off a wall or partner. Forehand, backhand, glove-side, 40 to 60 reps. The most useful drill in the game and it needs no field.
• Double-play feeds. Feeds from second and short, underhand and dart, before any turn. Add the pivot at 14U.
• Slow rollers. Charge, field with the glove foot forward, throw on the run. The do-or-die play at third.
• Bunt coverage. Live runner, live bunter, corners charge, middle infielders cover. Run from both sides until nobody needs to be told.

Outfield

• Drop step and first-step reads. Coach's arm goes up, player drop-steps to the side of the ball before it is thrown. Five reads each, every practice.
• Do-or-die. Ground ball to the outfield with a runner scoring; charge, field on the glove side, throw through the cutoff.
• Communication fly balls. Two players, one ball hit between them, the call made early and loud. Nobody collides and nobody drops it.
• Cuts and relays. Ball in the gap, relay lined up before the catch, throw to the right base. Run with a runner so the decision is real.

Pitching and catching

• Spins at close distance. Two or three spins, 15 to 20 reps each, at 20 feet, no radar gun. Where movement is built.
• Bullpen at the age's distance. 35, 40 or 43 feet. Pitches counted, location called on every one. The count is written down.
• Receiving off front toss. Partner tosses to the glove side, catcher sticks it, 30 to 40 catches. Comes before blocking at every age.
• Blocking on a mat. Soft balls or tennis balls, 15 to 20 reps, chin down, glove between the knees. Starts at 12U.

Hitting and short game

• Tee routine. Same five stations every time: middle, inside, outside, high, low. The routine she runs at home into a net.
• Front toss with counts. Coach calls the count before each toss; two-strike swings are shorter and the player says so out loud.
• Sacrifice and drag. Sacrifice first at every age; drag and push for the players with speed, from 12U up.
• Slap footwork. Crossover and run-through off a tee until it is automatic, then front toss, then live with a defense reacting.

Baserunning and team

• Steal starts. Reads off a coach's or pitcher's arm, leaving on release. Five a practice from 12U.
• Rounding first and tag-ups. Through the bag on a ground ball, a tight round on a hit, tag on a fly ball from second.
• First and third. Three variations each way. The play most teams still give away at 14U.
• Twenty-one outs. Defense stays on until it records 21 against live hitters and runners. High school and up.

The other five days

A youth team practices once or twice a week. Call it three hours. The players who look different in May are doing something on the other five days, and the honest version is that most of the roster is doing nothing, which you find out in April.

The plans on this page are for practice day. For the days between, the roster needs something short enough to get done on a school night and specific enough to be worth doing: a throwing progression against a wall, the tee routine from the drill index, pitchers' spins at close distance, catchers' receiving off a parent's toss, footwork for the slappers. Thirty to forty-five minutes, by position, three days a week.

That is what Next Athletix does for a softball coach. It does not write your practice plan; this page is the practice plan. It assigns daily, position-specific training sessions to your roster between practices and shows you who did them. You create the team, show the QR code on your phone at one practice, every athlete scans it, and they are on the plan before they leave the field. Your dashboard shows who did the work this week, who is on a streak, and who has gone quiet, which turns the close of your next practice from a guess into a sentence: "Nine of twelve did their sessions this week."

Be straight with parents about what it is. A coach account is free. A free athlete account gets one sample session a week; the full plan runs on the Training plan, which is per athlete with a 7-day free trial, and athletes and parents subscribe on their own account with nothing billed to you. Pricing is here. It is not a recruiting service and it does not replace the practice you just planned. If your team also wants a structured winter, the off-season softball training plan is the 12-week version of the same idea.

Print it

Everything above is the plan. Print the page or send the link to your assistant coaches; nothing to sign up for. If you want the between-practice work assigned and tracked, that is what the free coach account is for.