What I learned from a 7yo.

What a great thread
Going trough something very similar. My DD struggled to locate the strike zone from 8 till late 9. Once she started working with her new PC she has figured it out. Once he got her mechanics down she was able to put it right down the middle. She was so excited and looked in his face and said "look at that great pitch". The coach laughed at her and said "If you throw that pitch you will be reading the numbers off your outfielders backs". It took her a few seconds to figure that out.
We were coming home from lessons on Monday and she said "I keep practicing these other pitches, and now I'm worried that I won't be able to throw it down the middle when I need a strike". Love how they think!

In my DD's expierence it went from 8u striving to get everything over the plate to 10u speed over the plate and hitting some spots consentrating on speed and just hitting strikes for the most part, 12u speed, hitting spots (huge). and now 2nd yr 12u but playing 14u this yr speed again for the development of custom pitches, drop, curve, screw, and rise but need good speed to get the rise with the right rotation on the ball to get it which she's only hitting about 54mph consistently.

Anything below 12u we've always preached throw strikes, throw strikes, throw strikes. If they hit it a mile, so what. There is nothing more boring and deflating as a coach, parent or player than watching your team issue walk after walk after walk with the occasional hit by pitch thrown in there. Those one hour time limit games that go two innings are worse than watching paint dry. Our younger teams always placed an emphasis on throwing strikes and letting the D work. Yes, we shouted the "let them hit it" line more than once. Girls who walked or hit lots of batters got significantly less circle time than those who didn't. We would remind parents to keep their girls in lessons, work with them at home and as their control improved so would their circle time. Several times we had girls with horrible control who stayed in lessons, worked with mom and dad, and it showed. By the end of the season or the next they were getting to pitch more. We also had girls who did not put in the work and it showed - they didn't see the circle for our team.

As my oldest grew physically and mentally, developed her mechanics and control to the point where she was only walking a few a game, if any at all, then we started focusing on the strategy behind pitching. Maybe I'm the odd bird here, but I would rather lose 20-0 giving up 20 hits than lose 10-0 walking everyone.

I agree Redbird! Also, I do sometimes tell my daughter to let them hit it.(She is 10) I do it much less now. The reason I say that, is bc some yoing pitchers(dd included) can get frustrated when they give up a hit. Especially when a teammate might make an error or something on what would usually be an easy out. So it may sound stupid to you, but I am keeping my kid from walking the next couple of batters bc as soon as she starts trying too hard that's exactly what will happen.

Telling a kid to just throw strikes is the difference between being a "thrower" and a "pitcher". Anyone can practice a lot and just throw strikes. A "pitcher" is someone who has such good command of their pitches that they do not have to throw strikes to get batters out. That is the goal. When my DD was 8, her PC would say that she threw "too many strikes" and it took me awhile to realize that she was right! Once you have command of the middle of the strike zone, work the ball inside and then outside. Next to all four corners and start learning the change-up.

So, I had her again last Sunday. She is just SO tiny. Her age group will use a rubbery 11 inch ball and pitch from 30 feet. She is doing well, but at one point she bent over and pushed a ball right over the middle of the plate. "Darn. No, that isn't right." She then, stood up and started throwing again. Her dad said that she is very happy and eager for her lessons.

Here she is, during her 2nd lesson.

Amy I had a new 8yr old last night. Tiny little thing as well. Her league pitches 11" incrediball at 35'. Ugh.
We went over just releasing the ball last night, and it was basically a lesson of giggles.