I am a club coach for a 16U girls fastpitch team. We do a lot of front toss with real softballs in practice and this net really works well as a protection screen for the coach or person tossing the balls. It sets up easily, quickly and provides very good protection from balls being hit back up the middle, even at very close distances (10 to 15ft from hitter.) It sets up in about 45 to 60 seconds.We use to use a 7x7 net but it was too big to run front toss and situation style drills for our infield not to mention the "sock" middle area had too much give and it wasn't as effective. This is wide enough for good pitcher protection but narrow enough that it allows balls to get through to middle infielders for realistic situation practice. It is also tight enough that when balls hit the net, it only gives about 4 inches.
I'm very happy with this net and highly recommend it for any baseball or softball team.