Does she have potential????

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Apr 14, 2011
93
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My DD used to pitch. She pitched from about age 8 and recently stopped once she entered HS. When she started taking lessons at 8, I didn't let her in a game to pitch for about a year when she could throw fastballs mostly for strikes. She was actually a catcher because no one else could catch. Anyway... I think her not pitching in a game helped her as far as success when she actually got in a game. She ended up being a pretty good pitcher, but it did take a lot of work and took away from her fielding and hitting. Every day (literally) I told her she could quit pitching and it would be no problem with me. Its tough work being a pitchers dad, especially when they start throwing harder and learning drops/ drop curves. All those years, she kept saying she wanted to pitch, she worked at it and was pretty successful so I kept supporting her. Then one day last summer, after our last tournament, before she entered HS, she said she was going to stop pitching. I think she realized she wasn't going to be able to pitch at a level she wanted to actually play at. While she was a good pitcher, she was probably a better hitter, and base runner. She had started to get attention from college coaches for her offense/ speed. She also saw the type of pitcher most colleges were looking at and she didn't fit that look. She told me she was going to stop pitching and focus on hitting and fielding instead. It made my life much easier. And I think it made hers too. To be a successful pitcher you have to practice like 3-5x per week or more all year round which means less time for hitting/fielding. Now all she has to focus on is hitting and fielding which now she has time for and will probably help her more down the road if she wants to play at the next level.
 
May 6, 2014
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What you are going through now, is what I kind of see happening. Taking away from the fielding/hitting is my major concern. There are 4 others from our 8u allstar group that started pitching this year. There are a few things that are consistent among the 5 of these girls: inconsistency, fielding and hitting regressing. I'm going to assume this is the price you pay. Thanks again Lefty, I knew there was someone out there that had experienced what I'm about to.
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,781
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What you are going through now, is what I kind of see happening. Taking away from the fielding/hitting is my major concern. There are 4 others from our 8u allstar group that started pitching this year. There are a few things that are consistent among the 5 of these girls: inconsistency, fielding and hitting regressing. I'm going to assume this is the price you pay. Thanks again Lefty, I knew there was someone out there that had experienced what I'm about to.
Not necessarily, young pitchers usually begin to catch better than the other players due to the constant catching of the returned ball during pitching practice. When my DD practiced we had a routine of pitching, followed by fielding drills and ended with T-work for hitting. Doing this nearly daily always made her one of the best fielders and hitters on her team. Since your going out on a regular basis to pitch, include everything else. Sure it takes longer, but if she enjoys it it's no big deal.
 
Apr 23, 2014
389
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East Jabib
I couldn't agree more, Jojo. I've made it a point to ensure we are developing DD's entire game. Sometimes we will go to the field to work only on fielding and throwing or just for BP. We pitch plenty believe me, but I know that even at 10, there are probably 5-6 girls her age and 10-15 in the 3 years ahead of her who are also going to pitching lessons and will be vying for the starting varsity pitching spot. A lot can change in the next few years, so I want to make sure she's a well rounded softball player not just a pitcher.
 
May 9, 2014
96
6
Thanks Sparky...I think the hit batters are what bother me the most...2-3 in 1-2 innings almost every game. She's only pitched half a dozen games...but that's where the struggle begins (for me and her). The first one she shrugs off, the second one she'll start to slow down and steer/step, and if there's a third, I just swap her out.

Just for fun, at home, I had her line up/aim her body 2 feet right of my right shoulder...so while her body is aimed to my right, she is looking at my glove. She threw 8 in a row right to the glove. She could consistently hit a RH batter if that was the goal!! We played again last Friday. I told her and the other pitcher to decide each inning who was pitching....she played SS the entire game. I left the decision of practice and pitching up to her, but I told her not to expect to pitch in a game unless she had practiced and done her drills in the days leading up to the game. I'll see if/when she comes around.

Maybe its just me, but I'd rather hit a batter or walk a batter than give up a home run... My daughter really didn't hit too many, and sadly we have weird 8U rules that don't allow walks (instead a coach takes over and pitches cupcakes) but I would take a hit batter over serving up homerun balls over the plate, I'd even rather a walk if they are working the edges of the plate or the bottom of the strike zone and missing a little low.

I understand the regressing thing too, the first couple of games my daughter pitched her batting slumped bad (she was top hitter the previous fall) I think it is normal.

If she is consistently 2 feet to the right she is doing something wrong in the mechanics, obviously, make sure she is in a straight line, standing tall, etc.
 
Aug 1, 2014
73
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Does she have potential? It's clear she does. Her form looks great to me. I am sure that others can help improve it.
Softball is about spending time with your kid. So it's not a question of does she have potential but do you have the time to put into working with her. Your DDs success will come down to one thing, bucket time. Time spent with her in the yard while you sit on a bucket. If you don't do that, she won't improve.
But it is clear that you already do this. Kudos to you and best wishes moving forward. Listen to the professionals here. There are some softball gurus with a lot of great advice that they don't charge nearly enough for.
Best of luck in the future.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
It is way too early to tell if she will be a star or not.

The big question is, does she have fun pitching?

If so, are you willing to stick with her until she gets good?

If she never becomes a great pitcher, does that really matter?
 

JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
I've tried the whole comparing thing..it doesn't work. The question is who do you compare to? Amanda with ball at 12 at toetouch or Ueno with ball more toward 9 at toetouch...then there's still Finch, Luna, etc. Some swim, some don't...obviously trying to emulate these elite pitchers is not going to help a 9yo. We try to focus on a few of the basic motions. Ankle dorsi-flexion on load, trying to stride down power line, open hips, show ball at noon, ball up at nine, whip through release, close hips, driving into front side, don't walk through. And that's about 5 things too much it seems like, especially during a game. During a game, I usually try to emphasize stride and tempo...

I never really thought about the answer I was looking for....but I guess what I'm looking for is someone that has had the same experience as I'm having to say they can remember when their DD was inconsistent, hit several batters every game, etc...it's just the natural progression and they worked through it...the next year was totally worth it.

We have two girls pitching on our LL team. My daughter who either strikes them out, walks them, or hits them. It makes for very long innings if she's not ON. Then we have another, that lobs the balls in, lots of hits, the defense works hard and we seem to get out of innings pretty quick. The mindset is that the other pitcher is better, she gets it over the plate and the other team puts the ball in play and because she doesn't allow as many walks, but the difference is that no one is hitting off my DD because of the speed, so there aren't any opportunities for defensive outs. It's almost a disadvantage to have speed at this age in LL. We do have a 5 run rule. So sometimes it's 8 walks to get out of an inning.

I'm frustrated...she's frustrated....

Hit batters are a good thing for a girl learning to pitch with correct mechanics. The correct mechanics introduce a left/right component to pitching that a down the line elbow curl simply do not have. So it is common for young pitchers to have an accuracy plot that looks like this \ Add to that the fact that she does get her weight forward too much and her fastest pitch when she really feels the whip at release is going to be an ankle buster on a right handed batter. No biggie, she will fix it soon enough with enough quality reps and some circle time to get used to trusting her self. a couple of words of advice...

1) De-Emphasize accuracy and hit batters. Its her job to pitch it, it is their job to duck it.
2) Hit batters are a good thing because it means she wants to throw fast and that is where the speed is
3) Just start working broad zones in practice. Meaning- Get her to throw a high pitch/low pitch/inside/outside pitch so she learns that she has the control- The zone for these should be very broad meaning success for an outside pitch is anything off the plate outside (1 foot or five feet- it does not matter), a high pitch is anything above a batters chest (once again head high or over the backstop does not matter)...then once she can do this, make it high-inside etc (quadrants- but still very loose). Then slowly squeeze the quadrants over time.
4) Any miss in the above has to be followed by BIG CORRECTIONS. So a pitch that is supposed to be low but is high requires the next pitch to go in the dirt. At this age, correction needs to be big so they can feel it- it can take 10 pitches to bring a high pitch down if you slowly try to pitch lower, but the correction is much faster if you go to the opposite extreme of very low and then try to pitch higher.
5) You post has a lot crazy in it, and it comes across as potentially bad crazy not just run of the mill DFP crazy....questioning a 9 year olds ability to be great when she is just learning how to pitch just screams parental ego run amok.

My DD went through something similar her first season pitching, no balls put in play all season, she must have had 90-100 strikeouts, but she also had about 90-100 walks and at least 30 hit batters. It got to be a running joke with her that the girls would just get in the box, close their eyes and pray that they heard ball four before they got hit or struck out. The accuracy came later that year in the fall and she never looked back.
 

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