Pitcher/catcher communication on passed balls with a runner at third base. (Softball).

THE SITUATION ARISES in almost every game. A pitch gets away from the catcher and while she is scrambling to find the ball, a runner crosses the plate. This is especially true in the high school and lower divisions of play.

What can you and should you do about it? Follow our lead. Devise a simple plan of communication between the pitcher and catcher, wherein the pitcher lets the catcher know where the ball is as she approaches home plate for a tag play on the advancing runner.

The pitcher provides both a visual signal to the catcher (pointing toward the ball) and an audible signal (calling out the location of the ball).

We use four audible signals in fixing the location of the ball, as the pitcher approaches home plate.

"Down! Down!" tells the catcher that the ball is within her immediate area, usually directly behind her, just to her right or left, or under the feet of the umpire. The ball has not left the home plate circle and is usually within two to six feet of the catcher.

In most instances the runners will not try to advance on this ball, but this is not taken for granted. We have seen extremely quick runners take advantage of this situation and score.

While coming off the mound shouting "Down! Down!", the pitcher points downward with either the index finger or thumb. These signals enable the catcher to quickly locate the ball and force the runner back to third.

"Back! Back!" tells the catcher that the ball is directly behind her toward or at the backstop. While running toward home plate and shouting, "Back! Back!", the pitcher is pointing toward the ball.

"First! First!" tells the catcher that the ball is to her right, toward the first-base side. We use "First", rather than "Right", because the first-base side is a constant that can more easily be identified by the catcher. The pitcher breaks from the mound to home plate while pointing toward the ball and shouting "First! First!" repeatedly "Third! Third!" is our signal for a ball to the catcher's left. Again, third base is a constant that is easily identifiable to the catcher.

This system of communicating the location of a passed ball is simple and easily taught with drill and repetition.

Once the catcher has located the ball, the execution of relaying it to the pitcher at home plate becomes paramount. The catcher must retrieve the ball as quickly as possible. The technique will depend on whether home plate is encircled by grass or the dirt extends to the backstop.

We teach the catcher to get to the ball as quickly as possible, place the left knee (for a right-handed catcher) on the ground and simply pivot toward the plate on this knee, much in the way a second baseman will make the open pivot to the shortstop on a ball hit close to second base.

Once the chest is squared to the plate, it will take only a flip of the wrist and minimal arm action to get the ball to the pitcher for the tag out.

Pivoting on the knee does a number of things for our catcher.

First, it keeps her low, speeding the timing of the throw to the pitcher.

Second, it gives the catcher better balance and stability for the throw.

And third, it enables the catcher to throw the ball at the proper trajectory between the pitcher's waist and knees. This positioning also allows for a more natural throwing action for the catcher.

The last phase of execution for this play depends on the pitcher. We ask our pitchers to break hard to the plate, while pointing to and shouting out the location of the ball. They are taught to break to a point approximately one foot off the third-base corner of the plate, up the third base line.

Our reason for this is to make the tag before the runner reaches the plate. If our focus point were home plate, we'd sometimes force an umpire to make a bang, bang call which more often than not, will favor the runner, especially on the road.

Some people point out that the pitcher should break for the third-base edge of home plate and allow the runner to slide into the tag. Our feeling is that if we can get the ball quick enough, we can take the guesswork away from the umpire by placing a quick tag on the runner before she reaches the plate. There will be no question on safe or out.

Our pitchers are taught to stay on the infield side of the baseline, bending at the knees and giving the catcher a target with the glove at or near her waist.

We want the ball thrown to the glove target rather than to a "tag spot" - the contact point at which the pitcher applies the tag, three to six inches off the ground.

The glove target, we believe, eliminates a number of negative things that can occur whenever a young catcher tries to be too accurate with her throw. Throwing to the glove target also makes the catch and tag much easier for our pitcher.

On the throw from catcher to pitcher, we usually have the first baseman backing up the play in the event of an overthrow or a ball that gets away from the pitcher. This helps keep additional runners from advancing.

We always back up throws, even without additional runners on base. We use the first baseman primarily because at this point there is usually no runner at first base.

It is also easier, mechanically, for a left-handed first baseman to make the throw to third base on an advancing runner. We will sometimes use the second baseman to back up the throw if the situation warrants it, such as bunt coverage, first & third situation, etc.

In practicing our communication, we have our pitcher(s) and catcher(s) go to their positions. The catcher is either fully equipped or has on just her shin guards and mask. The coach is positioned directly behind the catcher.

The pitcher (without a ball) goes through her pitching motion. On her release, the coach does one of four things: (1) drops the ball directly behind or underneath the catcher, (2) rolls the ball backward away from the catcher in the direction of the backstop, (3) rolls the ball away from the catcher toward the first base side, or (4) rolls the ball away from the catcher toward the third base side.

The coach makes sure that none of the throws is in the sight line of the catcher, thus making the catcher rely on the pitcher to both show and tell her where the ball is.

As the ball is dropped or rolled away from the catcher, the pitcher breaks toward home plate, while pointing to and shouting the direction of the ball.

The drill is completed when the catcher relays the ball back to the pitcher for the tag at home plate. We have the pitcher hold the tag on the ground to check her positioning, which should be approximately one foot off the plate up the third-base line.

We have each catcher and pitcher rotate through the drill a number of times. We repeat it two or three times a week, once the weather permits us to use the field. We also rotate our catchers and pitchers so that everyone gets to work with the other players at some point.

The drill can also be done in the gym, but it does require an ample amount of space to get a realistic sense of what actually occurs during a game.

We eventually incorporate the first baseman or second baseman into the drill and work on over-throws and throwing out advancing runners.

By practicing the communication between the catcher and pitcher, you may be able to eliminate a number of scoring opportunities for your opponents. This type of communication is simple, direct, and reliable in its application to a key game situation.