Baserunning Drill: All the Way Through 1st Base (Baseball & Softball)
Teach players to run hard through first base on ground balls, focusing on proper foot strike technique and controlled deceleration after the bag.
How to Run This Drill
- Player starts in the batter’s box with a bat, other players in a line behind them against the fence of the backstop
- Coach/partner acting as pitcher, goes through a wind-up without a ball for every hitter
- Cone set up 10 feet behind 1st base
- The batter swings, drops the bat, and runs all the way through 1st base, striking the front of the bag with their foot
- The runner slows down after crossing the bag, breaking down at the cone using wide feet, short choppy steps, and looking towards the 1st base side fence to see if the ball was over thrown
- Once the runner comes to a stop, they jog back to home plate to get back in line
- Each player rotates through the line so that they each run all the way through 1 st base 5 times
Coaching Points
- Strike the front edge of the bag with either foot - don't break stride
- Run in a straight line through the base, don't veer toward foul territory
- Use wide feet and choppy steps to decelerate after the cone
- Look toward first base side fence to check for overthrows
- Drop the bat properly - don't throw it
Quick Actions
At a Glance
- bases
- bat
- cones
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