Diamond Drills: Upper St. Clair’s Jerry Malarkey on rundown drills

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, April 22, 2018 | 11:09 PM

Remember playing rundown as a kid when you didn't have enough for a pickup game?

Two bases, two fielders and as many runners as you want going between the two bases. Get tagged out three times, grab your glove and become a fielder. Get two shaky fielders and you could be running all day.

But in a real game, a rundown is an exciting and often times pivotal sequence that can pull a team out of a jam when executed correctly or cause chaos that can lead to a big inning and crooked numbers on the scoreboard if the ball is dropped.

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 for those of us who played the game, we know it is never that easy. So while we here at the TribLive High School Sports Network are proud to showcase these baseball and softball players each week with plenty of broadcasts and feature articles, there's more we can do. So we have turned to some of the top district coaches to help shed light on ways high school kids and youngsters can work on their craft to better improve their overall game and abilities.

On this edition of the weekly Diamond Drill, we run down how to practice a successful rundown with Upper St. Clair baseball coach Jerry Malarkey.

Earlier this season, Malarkey celebrated career victory No. 400, and his Panthers are in the playoff mix in Section 3-6A.

Malarkey on rundown drills

Since many practices in the spring are held indoors, we need to find ways to work on basic fundamentals in the gym. One of the drills we have implemented in the gym is a pick-off and rundown drill.

To carry out the drill, we have two pitchers set up in the middle of the gym. There is one catcher, a first baseman, a second baseman, two shortstops and a third baseman.

One of the shortstops works with the first base pick-off/rundown group, the other works with the third base pick-off/rundown group.

The drill starts with a runner on first and a runner on third. The pitcher working with the first base group comes to a stretch then executes a pick-off move to first. The runner on first is instructed to get into a rundown. Fielders work on rundown fundamentals such as timing and placement of throws, shortening distance for runners to work with and calling for the ball. At the same time, the pitcher working with the third base group executes a pick-off move to third base. The runner on third is instructed to get himself into a rundown between third and home. Fielders work on rundown fundamentals when the rundown is between home and third.

This drill gets a lot of players involved. Outfielders serve as runners and there are two pitchers, a catcher and five infielders involved at all times. It also serves as conditioning for the players doing the base running. The drill also encourages players in the rundown to never give up as mistakes can happen in the execution of the rundowns.

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

Tags: Upper St. Clair