Iron horse- I do like your idea for the defense of scenario 2. but that puts you right back into 1st and 3rd... does the team usually lay off in this situation? or do they just go for a straight steal of 2nd next time around? It sounds like your play is a safe bet, but unless you trade the run for the out, your right back where you started. I'd really like to try and get an out on this...much easier said than done I know. I would love to hear some more ideas about this one.
-CoachZ
That's why we call it from the dugout ahead of time. Green is like a green light saying we're ok with the run scoring but we HAVE to get an out. Red means red light at 3rd and that run can't score, hence the walk back.
You have to go back to the intent of the 1st/3rd plays on offense. I'm not running one with a good hitter at the plate, so the other coach is telling what he thinks of his hitter's chances most times. So if that run matters, we'll put them right back in the 1st/3rd and make their hitter beat us. They make try another version of the 1st/3rd hi-jinks, but most are easily defended by walking them back or simply communicating with the kids ahead of time. If they go straight steal we have other plays for that, as well. All comes down to preparation ahead of time obviously, and how much the run at 3b matters. Feel free to shoot me a message and I'll be more than happy to break down our 3 plays on this if you're interested or it might help at all.
The only way to feel better about getting an out is to rep the hell out of rundowns, which we do, and coach kids up to the point that you have faith in their decision making when the ball is in play.If they can handle the pressure and play catch you'll be amazed at how good they get at it. And if the other teams fails at this the first couple of times they'll likely be done running these on you all year. Coach will start worrying about looking dumb.