Recreational Softball Leagues: Creating the Perfect Lineup

Everyone can recite the criteria needed to build a good baseball lineup, but what about single-sex slow pitch softball lineups? What you look for in a softball lineup is very different than what you look for in a baseball lineup.

In a traditional baseball lineup, your leadoff guy is a speedy guy who takes pitches and can hit base regularly and shake the pitcher. You generally have a second-hitting type of contact, trying to get the lead hitter into scoring position … and then the meat of your order. You try to have the guys with the lowest batting averages in the lineup, so they hit the fewest times per game.

It’s pretty straightforward, and aside from Tony LaRussa in St Louis, all major league managers adhere to the same basic guidelines.

But slow pitch softball is different and this article will help you create a lineup that will give you the best chance of winning, so when you check your league’s schedules on the online league administration website, your team it will be near the top.

The first thing to understand is that, unlike baseball, in single-sex (non-mixed) slow pitch softball everyone generally has the chance of a hitting hit. Even the worst guy on your team should be fit enough for his bat to meet the ball. Even if it’s a slow roller on the line, every now and then they should be able to get a hit. (In traditional fast pitch baseball, these guys would always strike out.)

You should also have guys on your team who apparently get a hit every at-bat. These guys can smoke the ball down the middle with ease and grace and their skills should be used to the fullest. And if your team is moderately good, you should have a couple of players you can trust in key situations.

So what you need to do first is write down the names of all your players, in no particular order. Next, what you should do is put an asterisk next to each type that is like the first one described, the puncher. Next, underline the guys that fit the second bill, that is, those who routinely go on base. Lastly, you’ll want to surround the guys who have the power to hit the ball over the fence, or if your league doesn’t allow home runs, then surround the guys who can usually find a space and can hit within the park’s HRs. . Not all members of your team need to have a rating.

If you end up with an equal number of each, that’s fine, if you have more of one than the other, still. (However, if you have more than five with asterisks, you may want to find another team to play for.)

The next thing you want to do is split all the players with similar marks. In traditional fast pitch baseball, you want your two worst hitters at the bottom of the order, but not in slow pitch softball. This is not to say that you should hit your less skilled players at the start or at the cleanup spot, but they shouldn’t always hit back-to-back. In softball it’s all about putting guys on base and scoring runs. Back-to-back lousy hitters will ruin any inning.

Now that you have separated all of your players, you can start building your lineup.

The assumption, for the sake of this article, will be that you’re hitting 10 and you have 2 with asterisks, 3 with heart rate power, 3 that take hits consistently, and 2 that don’t have any designation. If your numbers vary, adjust accordingly. Also, it doesn’t really matter which players you choose and, in fact, you can vary it game by game, it only matters that they fall into the category you assigned to them.

The first thing you’ll want to do is distribute your power hitters. Unlike in baseball, it is actually detrimental to hit them consecutively. Take your 3 with power and put them in holes 3, 5 and 7. This will break the power and give you a chance to hit one over the fence in practically any part of your game. This will also keep them close enough that if you don’t hit him over the fence at just the right time, around the corner you will have another guy with power.

Second, take your two worst hitters, the ones with asterisks, and put them in eighth and tenth place. This puts them low enough that they don’t get as many at-bats as the first in order, but not having them back to back will stop the rally killers.

Next, take an underlined name and put it at the top of the order and why not make it the fastest guy in your squad. They may finish second after an in-frame roll, which will help you later.

You should have 2 consistent and 2 undesignated hitters remaining.

Put one of the consistent hitters on the vacant 9th spot. This way, you shouldn’t go 1-2-3 when the bottom of your lineup needs to start an inning.

You should have holes 2, 4, and 6 remaining. To build confidence, you may want to put one of the undesignated guys in fourth place, just make it clear that they’re not there to hit HR, as were assigned to cleanup hitters of the past. The confidence boost can take your game to the next level and land a base hit that you might not otherwise have landed.

Second place must go to your last underlined player and hole 6 can be filled with your last non-designated player.

Your alignment should now look like this:

1- consistent hitter

2- consistent hitter

3- power hitter

4- middle hitter

5- power hitter

6- average hitter

7- power hitter

8- Lower Skill Hitter

9- Consistent striker

10- Lower Skill Hitter

Looking at this, the weakest part of the lineup may be their 3-6 hitters, if their power guys aren’t also good hitters. If that’s the case, take your most powerful guy, the one who hits a mile or doesn’t, and make him the seventh hitter.

On top of that one adjustment, this should result in a winning lineup, and you should see your team at the top of the league rankings the next time you check out your online league management system.