I may be a little long winded in this and I apologize for that. There is a tldr at the bottom.

I am an assistant coach for my daughter 6u all-star team.

This is my daughters second season playing, during the fall and spring seasons we had the same head coach (I assisted both seasons) and he was an awful coach. We basically showed up at practiced and never had a plan and just winged everything. It was evident in our games when we played more organized teams where there was a true leader at the top. Our coach also was very hot headed and would move a girl to the outfield whenever a mistake was made. These girls are 4-6 years old and are going to miss a grounder or not go to the correct base everytime. This made our girls more nervous and caused more errors because they are 5 and take everything to heart. I as an assistant always tried my best to get the girls fired up and keep morale high. I help coach in the outfield and coached as the coach cather/ I would set up the tee. I want to be a head coach but my job schedule is hard to make every practice and I was able to make every game but 2.

Now after the spring season ended my daughter made the all-star team. We only had to two teams to choose the girls from and the parents had to say before the team was picked if they wanted their child to participate. My daughter was one of the better half of our team but I didn't expect her to make it. She hits off of coach pitch well but hasn't really taken to the fielding part of the game yet, though she has made great strides of recent. My whole goal is to make my daughter love the game of softball and want to keep playing.

Now once all-stars started I volunteered my help and got picked to help coach. We had 3 weeks of practice before our first of 3 tournaments started. We practiced 4 times a week roughly 90-120 minutes. When we started the first practice the coach has set up stations for drills and we would drill for 60 minutes then do cages. I was thrilled, our coach was organized and had a plan. I loved that my daughter would get some structure and work on fundamentals. Even though we practice in the yard often, learning from other adults is great! But we didn't line up in positions that often and we had a scrimmage game before the first tournament started and I noticed we were not structurally sound.

When we began the first tournament I quickly realized we were talented but lost on the field. We had good bats (in our league half the team has to be designed coach pitch only, the other half gets 3 pitches then 2 swings on tee) we could score runs but other teams were quicker in decision making than us and also new where to go with the ball. Because we never practiced as a unit when our girls would field the ball they would run/ throw to the wrong base or simply just freeze up. So while we could score we also couldn't really stop anyone.

We were eliminated early in the first tournament then when we started the second tournament we faced off against some of the top teams. They were way ahead of us in terms of fielding, not on talent but in how they were coached. These teams entire infield would make throws from shortstop and the 3rd base wing to first. They would make quick decisions and we would barely score.

Now we've entered the big tournament at the end and tonight the team we played was less talented than us. But they were fundamentally sound and we played the lowest scoring game I've ever seen in 6u. Our girls through playing 8-12 games together have made huge strides just by playing in the field together. We lost tonight 8-6, the team we played was a top seed and were were a much much lower seed. So while our girls played amazing in the field the other team was still a step ahead making plays our girls couldn't think of.

So now to my real question, I want to be the head coach of my daughters next team, her head coach from fall and spring ball more than likely won't be allowed by the board ( a bunch of parents [not me] emailed and asked for him not to be allowed to return). I have to figure things out at work but I think I can do it. I want my team to love softball and be prepared. So where as our first coach didn't really teach our second coach just did drills. What is more important drills or putting the girls in the field and hitting balls to them and working on situational things. Is there a good mix becuase fundamentals are very important but we only get 90 minutes of practice.

Tldr: I want to head coach my daughters softball team next season. I've seen her past coaches downsides and want to do better. Is it best to mix in drills, cages and working as a whole unit in the field on situations. Or is it best to just do situations and cages. Is there a proper lay-out to 6u practices. I just hate to see them lose almost every game.