Diamond Drills: South Allegheny’s Minford runs through indoor infield drill

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, May 7, 2018 | 12:00 AM

This has been a rougher than usual spring for the diamond sports. While most district baseball and softball teams have been able to keep up with their section schedules, many coaches have lamented about having very few outdoor practices.

It's tough enough for the teenage players to keep focus indoors in a somewhat limited environment doing many of the same things over and over again. But it's even worse once they get a taste of the outdoors or once the season starts to keep going back in the gym because of cold, rain or wet grounds.

The diamond sports of baseball and softball find their charm in that both can be very simple in nature. Pitch the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball. But, it is never that easy. The TribLive High School Sports Network is proud to showcase these baseball and softball players each week with plenty of broadcasts and feature articles, but there's more we can do. So we have turned to some of the top district coaches to help shed light on ways players can work on their craft to better improve their overall game and abilities.

On this edition of the weekly Diamond Drills, we get a little tutorial from our first softball coach to participate. Hal Minford is in his ninth season as head softball coach at South Allegheny. In his previous eight years, the Gladiators have made the WPIAL playoffs five times, including in each of the last four years. SA has five postseason victories, including a WPIAL semifinals appearance and a berth in the PIAA playoffs in his second season in 2011.

Minford explains a drill they run in the gym he calls Confident Killers:

Here are some drills that we work on when the weather is not conducive for outside practices.

We place a ball on the ground at third base, the players must field and throw to first.

After the ball is placed on the ground, we then roll short grounders.

We then work on backhand and forehand.

We then practice throwing on the run.

We then move to shortstop and work on the same drills, followed by transfers at second base

We then move to second and continue the drills.

After second, we move to first and practice the same drills with first basemen, including fielding bunts and short flip to second basemen at second.

We run these drills very fast, when a ball is thrown, the next one is rolled. We try to speed the game up at practice so it slows down in the game.

This is our basic indoor infield series that works on proper technique.

We also run 5-7 hitting stations that vary every day.

Don Rebel is a TribLIVE High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: South Allegheny