12U Softball Practice Plan (90 Minutes)

A 12U softball practice plan should run 90 minutes and give its longest live block, 20 minutes, to team defense, because 12U is where the game speeds up: the ball is now 12 inches, the pitching distance is 40 feet, runners steal, and a defense that does not know the play before the pitch gives away two bases at a time. The plan below has seven blocks: arrival tee work, a basepath warm-up, a throwing progression, a hitting circuit with bunting, a bullpen block, 21 Outs, and a circle talk. Open it in the free softball practice planner to change the length or swap a block.

The plan spends 28 minutes getting ready (tee work, warm-up, throwing), 57 minutes on three core blocks, and 5 minutes on a closing circle, and the core moves from individual hitting to the batteries to full-team defense.

Arrival Tee Groove (10 minutes). Open tees for early arrivals, with a purpose: five swings each at an inside, middle, and outside tee position.

Dynamic Basepath Warm-Up (8 minutes) and Throwing Progression (10 minutes). Skips, shuffles, karaoke, and build-up sprints on the basepaths, then partner throwing that ends with quick-catch. Finish with position throws: corners to first, middle infielders to second, outfielders to a cutoff.

Station Hitting Circuit (22 minutes). Front toss, tee work, bunting, and dry swings, about five minutes each. At 12U the bunting station teaches the sacrifice and the bunt for a hit. Coaching point: catch the ball with the bat, top of the zone down.

Pitcher-Catcher Bullpen Block (15 minutes). Two or three batteries with one coach: spins, then locations, then a short sequence to an imaginary hitter, finishing on a purpose pitch. Everyone else takes a second round of bunting and front toss with the other coach, so the bullpen costs the rest of the team nothing.

Situations: 21 Outs (20 minutes). The full defense, runners from the rest of the roster, and a coach with a fungo calling the situation before every ball. The defense needs 21 clean outs. Keep the number of balls it takes and try to beat it next week.

Circle Talk (5 minutes). One takeaway each, shout-outs for effort, and one focus for the next game.

Three rule changes shape the practice. The ball grows from 11 inches to 12, which affects grip and throwing for smaller hands, so the throwing progression matters more than ever in the first month. The pitching distance moves from 35 feet to 40, which gives hitters a little more time and asks pitchers for more leg drive. And in most organizations the running game opens up: runners leave on the pitcher's release, steal any base, and advance on a dropped third strike.

That last change is why this plan gives 20 minutes to live situations. At 10U, a ball in play was usually one out or one base. At 12U, a bunt with a runner on first can turn into a runner on third if the defense throws the ball around. Teach the defense to get the sure out first, and practice it with runners moving.

Rotate through five situations and the defense will see most of what a 12U game can show it. Nobody on, routine ground ball: field it and make a strong throw to first. Runner on first, ground ball: the force at second, with the shortstop and second baseman calling who covers. Runner on first, bunt: corners crash, second base covers first, shortstop covers second, the catcher calls the base, and whoever does not field the ball (usually the third baseman retreating, otherwise the pitcher) gets back to cover third. Runner on second, base hit to the outfield: hit the cutoff, and the cutoff listens for "cut" or "home." Runners on first and third: run the call your team uses, even if at 12U that call is simply to throw back to the pitcher and concede second base.

Before each fungo, every player says her job out loud. It feels silly for one week and then it becomes the habit that prevents most mental errors.

A 12U team needs at least three girls who can pitch in a game, and a tournament weekend can need four. Use the bullpen block to develop the third and fourth pitchers, not only to sharpen the ace. Give each pitcher a plan for the pen: fastball locations first, then the changeup, which is the most useful second pitch at this age because it wins on speed difference, not on movement.

Watch the workload across practices, lessons, and games. Softball has no universal pitch count rule like baseball's, which leaves workload to the coach. Windmill pitchers get overuse injuries too, most often in the shoulder. Shoulder, back, and legs tire, and mechanics break down when they do. End a bullpen when the release point starts to wander. Ask every pitcher how she feels at the closing circle, and plan the weekend so no girl has to pitch four games on Sunday. If it happened anyway, she rests.