A group of middle school students have been learning the tricks of the softball trade at a Softball School hosted at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

The clinic, which ran from July 18 to July 21, was hosted by the UMass Dartmouth softball team and enrolled 44 students this year. The clinic featured hands-on instruction from UMass Dartmouth head softball coach Amy Sasin and other coaches from UMass Dartmouth and several other colleges in the area.

Over the four-day program, kids between the ages of 10-13 learned a little bit of everything about the sport, including hitting, base running, catching and throwing, and how to play various positions.

Sasin noted that in the end, the program is all about having fun while improving softball skills and getting more kids into the game.

“We are just looking to get them involved, to improve their skill sets, to improve their game and have some fun doing it,” Sasin said.

A typical day at the clinic involved a morning of rotating through various practice exercises in base running, hitting and catching, and an afternoon scrimmage to put the skills the kids are learning to the test.

This year marks the second year of the Softball School at UMass Dartmouth. Sasin decided to offer the program after she was offered a full-time coaching position at the school, which allowed her to organize and run the clinic.

Although she was limited in what she could do this year due to the ongoing construction work at UMass Dartmouth’s athletic fields, she hopes next year she will be able to expand the program and take in more kids, and offer more mixed groups of kids.