Sport-Blog.com

Shortstop is one of the toughest positions to play in fastpitch softball.  Most of the ground balls that stay on the infield are hit your way, so you constantly have to be on your toes and ready to move.  The following is a short list of skills a successful shortstop should have when playing high school softball.

Above-average range and quickness
As a shortstop, you'll find yourself moving all over the place to chase down grounders and line drives hit to the left side of the field.  At the high school level, it's common for the third baseman to play in front of the bag and close to the line in order to take away bunts and extra-base hits.  That means you'll have to make up for the strategic shift by covering more ground to your right.  You'll also have to be able to range back up the middle to get to balls that sneak past the pitcher, and you'll be expected to cover second base on bunts and stolen base attempts.  

Excellent arm strength and accuracy
Many people think that the longest throw on the infield is from the third to first.  That's not entirely true, however.  The longest throws often are made by the shortstop after she has ranged way over to her right to field a ball deep in the hole.  Therefore, if you want to be a good shortstop, you'll have to have excellent arm strength.  There's no getting around this point.  I've seen many players who were the best fielders on their team, but because they didn't have the strong arm to go with it, they ended up playing on the right side of the field or sitting on the bench.  

In softball, most teams use the shortstop as the cutoff person on relays from the outfield (unlike baseball, where the first baseman is usually the cutoff man), so you're also going to be making many throws from the shallow outfield to third base or all the way in to home plate.  Plus, you'll have to try to turn a couple of 4-6-3 double plays in the game, too.  

Great hands
In little league the shortstop position is traditionally reserved for the team's best player, who, at that level, is the person that can generally catch any ball that is hit to her.  That qualification doesn't really change at the high school level.  A majority of the time, you'll find that the best all-around fielder on the team is the shortstop.  Therefore, if you want to play this position, you'll have to have great hands.  Great hands means sure hands, soft hands.  You rarely make errors, and if the ball so much as touches your glove, there's a 99.8 percent chance that you'll field it cleanly.

Aggressive fielding style
One of the hallmarks of a great shortstop is an aggressive fielding style.  You charge every ball and field it five feet in front of where you were standing when the pitch was made.  By charging the ball, you get to it quicker, which makes the throw to first shorter and gives you an extra half-second to throw out the runner.