Never Allow The Third Out To Be Made At Third Base
With two strikes on the batter and a runner on second with two ours, you are sending him. Why? The catcher on this level may throw the ball into left field, hence the odds are better on the runner than on the hitter driving him in with two outs and two strikes. It also may unnerve the pitcher and produce a walk that equates to a first-and-third situation or even puts the runner in a position to steal home on a passed ball. All things considered, it keeps the pressure on the defense.

Guard The Lines With A Lead Late In The Game
No. You should play your corner infielders at normal width and depth. The thinking behind this rule is that the infielder guarding the line will take away a double that would put the runner in scoring position. On this level, a single often becomes a double when the batter-runner steals, as the steal is such a high-percentage play. Take away the infield out. Do not worry about the double.

Righty/Lefty Matchup
Forget about them on this level. Rely on better athletes with better skills to get the job done.

Taking A Strike With A 3-0 or 2-0 Count
On the high school varsity level, yes, but even on JV, and certainly in youth ball, you should never use a take sign. You should teach aggressive hitting and give each kid who faces this count the green light, but with the cautionary words to look for his pitch. You could yell, "Zone it," from the coaching box. About the only time you want to allow a true take is from your hitters lower in the batting order against a pitcher who has had trouble finding the strike zone - or in a case when the pitcher has thrown two pitches and gotten two quick outs. You could call a time-out and tell the hitter to take the first strike in these instances, which are rare. When you are down a lot of runs late in a game, you will take the first strike, too, but you should tell this to your players in a huddle by the bench before the inning starts.

Excerpt from the article Coaching Gaffes
I have considered writing a book "Every Word Out Of A Youth League Coach's Mouth At Games Is Wrong." Catchy title, huh? Its a little over stated but I think you will recognize some of these. Here are some of the worst examples, in no particular order.

1. Pre-Game Pep Talks
   It is completely counterproductive to give a rousing pep talk before the game. There are no big games, as you are not playing the other team but the ball and the ball doesn't know it is a big game. If they try to play harder they will get out of rhythm and perform worse. I witnessed this during the JUCO World Series as coaches exhorted their players to step up and win the big game, only to get crushed by a great Junior College coach, Grayson Community College's Tim Tadlock, whose speech prior to the championship game went something like "Well, you guys been playin' this game what, 12 or 13 years, right? Well, it's another one. Lets go get us a trophy." His teams were the loosest, goofiest bunch of Bad News Bears you would ever want to see. But they brought home 2 straight JUCO Championships!

2. "Come On Johnny. You've Got to Make That Play"
   Johnny is 11 and booted a ground ball. He knows that he should have made that play. The question is whether he is going to let booting one get into his head so that he "gator arms" the next. Well the coach's admonition increased the odds that Little Johnny will perform more poorly on the next chance. I have actually heard coaches yell this at players during pre-game infield drills. The poor kid started the game with a messed up head. E-Coach!

3. "You've Got Two Strikes. You've Got to Swing at Anything Close!"
   Of course, the next pitch is going to be cap level and Johnny is going to take a hack. Hey coach.define close, or better yet, be quiet. He knows how many strikes he has. You've just ballooned the fear of striking out looking. K-Coach!