banning continuation

In 8 and 10U I am pretty sure every player played every position but C so I understand the OP frustration.

One of my few rules is that a fielder needs to be going somewhere when a ball is live. I do not even care where they are going but they need to be going somewhere. Either the SS or 2nd will make their way to 2nd base for the out.

If you get ball back to pitcher quick you have a chance to throw the runner out at 2nd. Just take the out. practice it some and teams will stop. If you don't think you can make the out let them go as it's going to happen on the first pitch anyway.

Knowing I could get all but the slowest kids to 2B on the next pitch, I only did this if the defense clearly wasn't paying attention. Either way, the runner was getting to 2B.

As our kids saw the result of not paying attention, they were really good about covering defensively on the walk, and getting the ball back into the circle.

riseball said:

If you really want to make a difference eliminate a runner scoring from 3rd on a passed ball.

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I many 10U rec leagues, a runner cannot score on a WP/PB, and can only steal one base at a time, regardless of where the throw goes.

Strike2 said:

In many 10U rec leagues, a runner cannot score on a WP/PB, and can only steal one base at a time, regardless of where the throw goes.

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Our 10U rec cannot steal 2B (only 3B) and cannot come home on WP/PB, single base on however many overthrows occur.

FYI, our modified rule is when count reaches 4 balls with bases loaded, offensive coach pitches (must pitch from rubber, in 8 u coach pitch we pitched from bottom of circle or just outside circle), 3 pitches maximum (unless 3rd pitch is a foul ball), ump still calls strikes if appropriate, player can strike out, after 3 they are out regardless. with this being LL/rec, there is such a wide range of skill and knowledge level, it mostly is confusing to a lot of girls, and chances of getting out at 2nd are probably about 15-35% (15 if catcher throws, 35 if pitcher throws). the no walk rule also gives coaches the confidence to let girls develop in the circle, and helps not to shatter the girls confidence as well (they are not walking in runs), remember, these are still little girls at this age 8-9-10, and a few 7 yr olds.

We do have no 2 base steals on overthrows, otherwise, coaches (me included) would never let the catcher throw, and to me that is important to develop, throwing both to base being stolen and behind runners. Again, if this was travel ball, successful play, or at least not throwing ball away, would happen much higher %, so no mods needed. BAsically I am going to tell my catcher to throw anytime there is a steal on a ball they kept in front of them. Eventually, we will make an out, but if we make a play 5 % of the time I will be ecstatic, and that is something to build on.

we do have to work on developing better pitching, and league is working on it (last year in february/march, 4 week clinic, 1.5 hours every sunday, hopefully we put together again for this year). but it takes time. Game is boring (to all) when it is all walk, stealing, etc. girls need to HIT the ball. Developing their batting skills more important I feel than having them understand more advanced nuances of base running, this is easy to pickup later I feel (ie ball is overthrown, GO). We also have steal limits (no stealing home first few weeks, no more than 4 per inning), but if pitcher or catcher throws behind a runner, all bets are off (and steals based on WP/past ball count against steal limit).

I know it dilutes the game, but fundamentals have to come first. If you build really savy base runners, but they have no offensive fundamentals (hitting, bunting, etc.), as they move up they will never reach base to begin with, so all that base running savy is wasted. kind of like building a fancy multistory mansion on a foundation of rubble, won't last. when my son played little league (around this age), I remember a game they won like 7 to something, they never put a ball in play, let alone got a hit, just walks and steals. every time they had 1st and 3rd, they stole from 1st. the kids weren't even excited, they were almost sleepy.

Pitching is the key, I am happy to see your league is working on it. A lot of other issues will disappear.

yeah, it is getting better, actually had halfway decent pitching last year, I only pitched maybe 3-4 times a game early on, less by end, pretty much same for opposing coaches. Still each at bat normally hat at least one WP. Also didn't help that top 3 pitchers in division were all on one team (4 team division, and we also played neighboring league with only 2 teams in their division). last year was my first year dealing with pitching, real eye opener, was glad I pushed for some type of clinic (basically told the board coaches needed help on pitching, as most of us had no clue how to teach windmill)

Maybe rec leagues are different here but below is how the rules were for DD in rec league:

6U - all coach pitch. 1 base awarded unless for a hit unless you hit it to the grass on the fly and you could try for a double. Tee came out after 4 pitches if you didn't hit the ball.
8U - in Fall, kid pitch but coach would come in to finish the count if you "walked" a kid. In Spring, same rules except for the first half of season, then its all kid pitch with walks for the rest of the season, playoffs and all-stars. Can steal 2nd and 3rd base. Home plate cold.
10U - all normal ASA softball rules including stealing home plate, DTS, and infield fly rule.

This system worked out pretty well. 8U is where the girls learned how to pitch (and hit off kid pitch!) which included having to practice regularly so that they would limit the amount of walks and hit batters. My general comment is if you challenge the girls they will surprise you at what they can accomplish with a little dedication, hard work and practice. It really prepared them for competitive softball later on.

I guess my real issue with continuation is at this level/age, there are always a good number of inexperienced and low skill level players. I try to give all my girls a lot of experience at a variety of positions, with exceptions being P, C, and 1B (still rotate players at C and 1B, but generally only those who can catch a hard thrown ball). If I have a rookie at SS, no way we are making play. I guess it boils down to priorities, mine (at this level) is to help the girls develop skills (and awareness on basepaths and in field) and have fun, winning games is not a priority. To me continuation means winning is top priority, because if one coach is using it, eventually other coaches will rotate less players to various infield positions, resulting in less development and less fun for the girls (and more girls leaving the sport). At this level, I want my pitcher to concentrate on pitching (ie throwing strikes) and covering home if needed (and of course fielding balls in play). I want my catcher concentrating on keeping ball in front of them, getting ball back to pitcher quickly, and covering bunts. If I throw too much at these girls, they won't absorb any of it, and it will be (and has been) a disaster.

Sounds like we are a little behind most leagues. Our 8u was 95% coach pitch, couple of teams would have a plyaer pitch 1-2 innings, 5 pitch max per hitter, no called strikes, then coach would pitch if no ball in play (no walks at all), 95% of time was coach pitch entirely. We have no 6u softball, only Tball, one of main reasons my daughter played 8u at league age 5, played 10u at league age 7, would have been bored with t ball again at league age 5 after two years. Even if we had girls throwing strikes consistently enough to have no need for even limited coach pitching, still think at that age still need to focus on fundamentals (strikes, covering home on past ball, fielding). Only talking rec/LL regular season, all stars and travel of course are different animal, girls here should be more advanced. We actually have no more 8u softball either, coach pitch got folded into boys coach pitch, with 8 yr olds being allowed to play 10u if they want (regardless of ability). I think this is going to kill us pitching wise, but we are small league, normally only had 2 8u teams, and many parents complained about the away games with other local leagues (30-45 minutes away, all 6 PM weeknight starts) making it hard to get girls baths and in bed to be ready for school the next day.