11u pitcher

Not sure what my question is. Maybe I'm just venting.

My dd is 11u. She was the dominant/best pitcher in the rec season in our whole 12u league and in 4 total tournaments on our 12u travel ball team (open class, small hometown travel ball team)- small tournaments. We get to allstar season and a 12 year old in the league that was about the same speed-wise as my daughter but much wilder suddenly emerged to be the main allstar pitcher... pitching no hitters and perfect games. And it all happened overnight & really caught us off guard. She either practiced or fixed something magically overnight. Seriously.

In the allstar season so far, my daughter is hitting and playing 3rd base like a boss anyway though. Superstar play all-around otherwise, plus they've given her 2 (out of 7) of the games to pitch, so I AM happy for the main pitcher- and not upset. I am.

But since it has happened- (not sure if this caused it or not- not saying that it did), I'm pretty sure that my dd's pitching is a little off now. Not sure if it affected her confidence or just a consequence since she's pitching much less lately (she used to pitch 18 innings all week long- then like 18 innings in a tournament on the weekend), but in any of the games she's pitched lately she does seem to be giving up a few more hits than usual, plus maybe an extra walk or 2 more than usual.

Do you think her pitching could have suffered from this - at least a little? Or am I imagining it?

Here was the straw that broke the camel's back yesterday and is making me crazy. A class A travel team invited her to 'guest pitch' yesterday. She was really excited & she hadn't pitched more than 1 or 2 games the last week, so we were all for it. We've never played for an A team- doubtful we've ever seen more than one or 2 A teams in the small tournaments we've played in so far. The team she pitched for yesterday started her against a nationally ranked team. And wow- we got creamed. She's never given up a home run ever in her life ever. Someone hit one out of the park against her yesterday. She only walked one. On the home run- the coach told her to throw low and she hit her spot perfectly where he told her, and the girl drove it out anyway.

The coaches told us she was hitting all of her spots in both games she played yesterday- the other team just kept hitting her pitches over & over. And over & over. It was the most painful thing ever. I'm so worried this will affect her even more. And i'm sure it was a really bad decision on our part. We really thought it would help and not hurt her though. The 2nd game they started the only other pitcher that they have and she gave up 2 runs and then put my dd in for the rest of the game (2 innings I think?) and she didn't give up anymore runs, and did get a little more excited after that one. She got a few strikeouts- one on 3 drop balls in a row & one or 2 on some beautiful changeups... lol. and i think that brought up her mood a little and she really enjoyed finally having some coaching calling her pitches for once (she has had 0 experience up until now- no one calls pitches for her at all otherwise- rec, allstars, or our regular town travel team). You know? She hit her spots yesterday beautifully. She used changeups and drop with some success in the 2nd game. She tried some curve balls but she needs a little more practice on those. The travel team didn't call us today to ask for her help again today in their bracket play. It hurts. I'll admit it.

I guess chalk it up to a learning experience? And redouble our efforts on getting better- especially speedwise I would guess? I am happy to accept that perspective.

But we have more allstar games this week. We won our district championship and this week is sectionals. Do I have to worry that this is going to affect her play this week- especially confidence wise? i really, really seriously hope & pray that the slaughter we put her through on Saturday doesn't devastate her forever. And she still wants to play softball anymore at all. Or am I worrying too much for nothing? This softball sport is tough, tough business.

11 year old pitchers are the most vulnerable creatures in softball. It gets better next year.

It sounds like she got an opportunity to see how good she really is. Now she knows how much work she needs to do.

Also, using success in the rec season as an expected standard of performance is setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and disappointment. There are ALWAYS better teams, better hitters, or just bad days that will test determination and desire. Learning how to deal with failure is an important part of the process.

JJsqueeze said:

11 year old pitchers are the most vulnerable creatures in softball. It gets better next year.

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I am so, so happy to hear that. That is exactly what I needed to hear. At least- exactly what I WANTED to hear anyway. Thank you.

Eric F said:

It sounds like she got an opportunity to see how good she really is. Now she knows how much work she needs to do.

Also, using success in the rec season as an expected standard of performance is setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and disappointment. There are ALWAYS better teams, better hitters, or just bad days that will test determination and desire. Learning how to deal with failure is an important part of the process.

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Thank you. But the failure is tough. But I hear you. Thank you

mary123 said:

Thank you. But the failure is tough. But I hear you. Thank you

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You're right. Failure is tough. Significant failures are even tougher. To be blunt...deal with it. This game is built on failures. Your DD's success as a pitcher equals failure by the batter. Being successful all the time might feel good, but it's not what will help your DD become her best.

Eric F said:

You're right. Failure is tough. Significant failures are even tougher. To be blunt...deal with it. This game is built on failures. Your DD's success as a pitcher equals failure by the batter. Being successful all the time might feel good, but it's not what will help your DD become her best.

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Thank you. Thank you Eric F

There is something in the water, with these 11 and 12 yo. It seems that everything hits them at once. But, your DD has learned a valuable less and she is going to have to earn her spot.

The travel girls at this age are 100% better than the rec girls. I hesitate to even have girls play rec, after 12. They are missing out on a lot of fun, by only playing 15 games per summer.

There are allot of important lessons when it comes to pitching that cant be taught in pitching practice and playing the A Team got her started on a important skill development. If she is craving to be in that circle I would guess she is a allot tougher than you think. enjoy watching her battle, If you remain confident and point out how hard she battled so will she.

A couple lessons to learn:

1. Often times girls do not perform as well when they are guest playing. At least not the first couple times. They are a little uncomfortable because they don't know the other girls well. We used to have our DD guest pitch 3-4 weekends early in the season when she was 10-12. This would help her in pressure situations.

2. In rec, C & B(at least around here) you can get away with a good pitch that happens to cover a bit too much of the plate. At the "A" level an outside corner pitch better be on the black of the plate or in "the river" or it is getting hit hard. I've even seen balls 6 inches off the plate get hit pretty hard the opposite way.

3. There are just some teams that hit certain pitchers better than others. We've had pitchers that can throw a no hitter against one team. Then, throw just as well, but get hammered against lessor teams. Some teams just get better looks on certain pitchers.

The good news is that these are all things that you can make her aware of and she can learn from. It doesn't happen overnight. There will be more HR's. There will be more good pitches that get hit hard. Just make each one a learning experience. Also make sure that while you point out the things she has to work on, she needs to know she is still an All Star in your eyes.