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Intrasquad Game ideas

Gater022Gater02210+ posts
Hello again my fine group of colleagues... i have another thought provoking question for the group. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE INTRASQUAD GAMES & SCRIMMAGES?

Do you play em "by the book"? i.e. 6 or 7 innings, 3 outs per, normal counts etc... or do you have other ways to tweek these "games" to make them more effective?
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Bulldog 19Bulldog 195,000+ posts
quote:
Promote aggressive baserunning to put pressure on your defense (and carry this over to real games and the opponents' surprised defense) by allowing hitters thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles (as well as caught stealing, etc) to return to the base paths.


As long as it promotes smart baserunning and not stupid stuff. I could see some just doing it because they know there is not consequence for continuing to run...
F funneldrill1,000+ posts
We'll change the situation inning by inning.

1. Runner on first (as already noted on here). Pressure on pitcher, work on bunt coverages, stealing game, could hit and run, slash for the hitter and defending it for the infield.

2. Give the hitter an 0-2 count. Get's the hitter some work to battle back and the pitcher to put him away.

3. Give the hitter a 2-0 count. Get's the hitter to work on being selective (but aggressive) and the pitcher to work on battling back, pitching backwards, etc.

4. Runner on third. Work on playing with the infield in, defending the possible squeeze. Also, gets our hitters some situational hitting work.

5. Runners on 1st and 3rd. Work on 1st and 3rd defense, 1st and 3rd offense, etc.

6. Anything that we may have faced in the past that has troubled us (any and all ball/strike counts).

Sure, you could do alot of this stuff during your defensive period of practice...and we do. But, there is no substitute for "game speed repeitiions." Luckily we have enough pitchers in our program to do this. I think they get more out of this than just throwing a "bullpen." Plus, we can chart everything, we film everything just like a football team would. It makes a big difference!

We might not be the most talented team, that I can live with. I can live with losing because the other team was just flat out better than us. I can not live with losing because we were not prepared. If we are not prepared that goes on me, not the kids. Can we practice every single situation, no. However, we can hit the highlights, the ones we know we will see on a daily basis.

We do not intrasquad just to do it. Everything we do has a purpose.
Last edited by funneldrill
Ryno23Ryno23100+ posts
We play a lot of three team scrimmages. First heard of these at the ABCA convention a few years ago and I really like them.
They work really well if: a)you don't have your full team (like maybe during basketball season)and don't have 18 quality starters to make two teams, b)you want to work a player at more than one position, and c)you want smaller teams batting to maximize a players live at-bats.
Problem is, it can be like working a jigsaw puzzle making the pieces fit together.

As an example, player A plays short on the first team, hits on the second team, and pitches for the third team.
Last edited by Ryno23
F funneldrill1,000+ posts
Ryno23,

You are right about it being like a jigsaw puzzle. Those are very good when you have low numbers.

Let me say this. I do not do this alone. My assistant coach is unbelieveable. He is a hard worker, organized, high energy...just does a tremendous job and deserves a great deal of credit for any success that we have.

I am very fortunate to him on my staff.
Gater022Gater02210+ posts
Thanks for the great advice.... we have our first scrimmages this week (the snow is gone). Here is what i have come up with....

1st and 7th inning... play them straight up.
2nd inning- runner on first (1-1 count)
3rd inning- runner on third (1-1 count)
4th inning- runners on the corners (1-1 count, one out)
5th inning- each batter starts with an 0-2 count
6th inning- each batter starts with a 2-0 count

I think this touches on several key situations for defenses, batters, pitchers etc. Cant wait!!
F firstyrcoach10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by funneldrill:
We'll change the situation inning by inning.

1. Runner on first (as already noted on here). Pressure on pitcher, work on bunt coverages, stealing game, could hit and run, slash for the hitter and defending it for the infield.

2. Give the hitter an 0-2 count. Get's the hitter some work to battle back and the pitcher to put him away.

3. Give the hitter a 2-0 count. Get's the hitter to work on being selective (but aggressive) and the pitcher to work on battling back, pitching backwards, etc.

4. Runner on third. Work on playing with the infield in, defending the possible squeeze. Also, gets our hitters some situational hitting work.

5. Runners on 1st and 3rd. Work on 1st and 3rd defense, 1st and 3rd offense, etc.

6. Anything that we may have faced in the past that has troubled us (any and all ball/strike counts).

Sure, you could do alot of this stuff during your defensive period of practice...and we do. But, there is no substitute for "game speed repeitiions." Luckily we have enough pitchers in our program to do this. I think they get more out of this than just throwing a "bullpen." Plus, we can chart everything, we film everything just like a football team would. It makes a big difference!

We might not be the most talented team, that I can live with. I can live with losing because the other team was just flat out better than us. I can not live with losing because we were not prepared. If we are not prepared that goes on me, not the kids. Can we practice every single situation, no. However, we can hit the highlights, the ones we know we will see on a daily basis.

We do not intrasquad just to do it. Everything we do has a purpose.


I like to run this setup, and to make the players feel like they "own" this drill as well as the rest of their decisions, and to make them more responsible and accountable in actual games, I'll assign two players on each offensive squad with the responsibility of calling the offense. They do it their way first, then they do it my way, then we meet in the middle in a lot of ways because A) they know what I expect of them, B) they understand the circumstances under which I call a particular play, but C) I understand their physical and mental strengths and weaknesses and what they are capable of executing.
F firstyrcoach10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Ryno23:
We play a lot of three team scrimmages. First heard of these at the ABCA convention a few years ago and I really like them.
They work really well if: a)you don't have your full team (like maybe during basketball season)and don't have 18 quality starters to make two teams, b)you want to work a player at more than one position, and c)you want smaller teams batting to maximize a players live at-bats.
Problem is, it can be like working a jigsaw puzzle making the pieces fit together.

As an example, player A plays short on the first team, hits on the second team, and pitches for the third team.


Touche' I spent 3 hrs one night alone just trying to figure how those groups would go together. Then, come practice time, I STILL had to do some adjusting and head scratching.

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