Newb shots fastpitch Softball CC, need help

[Judd]

Pic #1, stealing 2nd

Pic #2 foul ball

Pic #3, 1st base

Canon 50D with a EF-S 55-250mm f4 5.6IS lens

The trouble I have is I am trying to jump around, following the action, then I may not be focused in that well. Another approach i took was not zooming in, and trying to catch what I could. Then counting on cropping the picture to center on the action. I have not touched any of the pictures from this weekend, except file compression for shutterfly

Any advice, or input would be appreciated

I did remove the watermarking, but it doesnt seem to have taken affect yet. Hopefully soon the site will update and it will go away.

BTW I took 1667 pictures this weekend, I uploaded 40-50 full size here http://juddga.smugmug.com/Other/ASA-Dublin/12287929_r9DzQ#876600116_JQ2RU

And I uploaded all the compressed images here http://gaforcered.shutterfly.com/1058

If you feel like browsing and giving me some general tips, that would be great

 

[SwissJ]

I didn't go through all 1667, but I scanned through about 200 and I think you really need to zoom in closer. Some facial expression would be nice.
Timing is another factor.

#186 could be a good candidate to crop if you have the resolution to do it.

 

[KmH]

Faces and expressions are the Holy Grail of sports photography.

These 3 you have posted are underexposed.

If you don't have a lens with sufficient reach, crop to increase subject scale in the image.