It's really common for pitchers to have a goal in practice, something they're working on like making their drop move more, or hitting the low-outside target with their changeup. These goals are usually specific and performance oriented - meaning the pitcher is trying to "do" something - whether they're really aware of it or not. What happens in games is that the pitcher changes her focus and suddenly starts trying NOT to do things. She tries Not to walk batters, or Not to hit batters, or Not to let them hit the ball, or Not to blow it, or NOT to do a millions things….she changes for "doing" to "not doing", or from taking charge to being careful. Nothing good or powerful happens when you're trying to be careful - and pitching is a powerful skill!

So how can we help our pitchers keep their powerful focus during games? What things can we do to help our pitchers stay focused on attacking their release instead of shrinking back to being careful and trying NOT to do something?

The answer is in creating Game Goals for our pitchers. Giving our pitchers things they can try to accomplish during the game can help them shift their focus away from trying NOT to do something to a list of things they are now trying TO DO.

The type of Game Goals that your pitchers have will depend on how skilled they are. The better the pitcher the more detailed their Game Goals. Let's check out a list of 5 different Game Goals and notice that they apply to different innings as well as to different situations. The object of Game Goals is to take the entire game, which seems so huge and sometimes unmanageable for the pitcher, and break it up into much smaller chunks. Then to have something they're trying to do with each chunk.

Here's a list of some Game Goals to help pitchers better manage each batter, each inning and ultimately the whole game:

1st Batter Goals:

• Throw strike first pitch of the game. The majority of hitters usually take the very first pitch, or else their timing is off so throw a strike right away and get a quick out!

• Get the lead-off batter out, set the tone for the game. This doesn't have to be a strike out. Don't try to do it all yourself. Use the players behind you to make outs as well by letting the batter hit a groundball or a flyball for an out.
• Get a strike on the 1st or 2nd pitch of each batter in the 1st inning.

• Continue to get the lead-off hitter of each inning out.
• Continue to get a strike on the 1st or 2nd pitch of each batter.
• Win the 1-1 counts. Anytime you face a 1-1 count throw a strike and win this count! The hitter's batting average is about .100 points different based on the outcome of this count (2-1 = .275 average versus 1-2 = .175 batting average).
• Less than 3 walks per game.

• This inning - get the right side of the infield a groundball
• This inning - I'll throw only 12 pitches

• 2 Strikes: Once the pitcher gets two strikes on the batter, what is the outcome? How quickly did they put the batter away or end up losing the batter to a base hit or walk. It allows them to see how many additional pitches they are throwing to make the out.
• Strategies for certain teams or batter's. For instance, if their #3 or #4 hitter can really crush the ball then we want to get the hitters before her to make outs. Instead of focusing on their great hitter and worrying about her, we want to face her with 2 outs and nobody on so the worst she can do is hit a solo homerun instead of a 3 run bomb. We do this by focusing on the hitters BEFORE the big hitter. We want to get them out so the big hitter can't hurt us as bad.
• Also try to get their big hitter to lead off the inning whenever possible. That means nobody will be on base when she comes to the plate, but in order to do that we must really get the job done with the hitters up before the big hitter!