Advice needed for getting my baseball obsessed 7yo daughter to even entertain the thought of making the switch to fastpitch

[BallparkMomma]

So, I'm having a hard time getting my dd to even consider the fact that she'll need to make the switch at some point (I'd think the sooner the better) from baseball to softball. She LOVES baseball and has been playing on an 8U travel team for a little over a year. She loves it but as she gets older (she's only 7 but plays at a high level) I would think she really should make the switch so she can find a team "family" and grow with them. Just the comradery aspect of having a team of girls around her vs being the only girl in her league is huge. Not to mention the mechanical fundamentals that she should probably be building now.

Has anyone else dealt with this? If so, how'd y'all go about explaining the pros and cons to them? She says she wants to play in college so she can go to college for free. LOL. I tried recently explaining that there's SO much more opportunity for a girl to play at a good college program in SOFTBALL much more than baseball as I think there's only a few D1 collegiate girl baseball players. Plus, as she gets older and reaches puberty/postpubescent age the physical divide of boys and girls gets much wider. She's just fighting me on it so I try not to push it too much so that I don't annoy her with it or create any unnecessary stress for her. Any advice on this topic? TIA!!!

 

[Rolling Hard]

Have her guest/practice/tryout for a softball teams.

 

[RADcatcher]

she's only 7

She likes bb great enjoy it!

Years to come to do other things too!

 

[erniekru]

If she loves baseball, let her play baseball. She's 7.

There are lots of players who started with baseball.

 

[stox]

I've heard cases where a girl played baseball until high school where she switched to softball and ended up playing in college.

The skills are really transferable so you can probably keep her in baseball until she tells you when/if she wants to switch.

At the 8u level it's likely that baseball has better development as well depending on where you live. The level of play for softball can greatly lag that of baseball in certain areas.

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[CoachCeetar]

meh, let her play baseball and encourage any of her female friends to play too. Too many parents default to softball for girls without even thinking. She can always switch later, there's no guarantee she'd find a different/better 'family' if she switches versus staying anyway.

 

[bsbs]

There is a girl at our hs that basically never played softball until her freshman year. She hit the hell out of the softball her freshman year. She also played on the baseball team, I would guess she plans on playing baseball again this spring.

 

[Sonerai]

Jade Gortarez from ASU played baseball in high school and switched to softball in college.

 

[Orange Socks]

Sarah Hudek


https://fastpitchnews.com/college-s...nnounces-she-transferring-to-louisiana/355304

 

[Northball]

Watch pro baseball and college softball on tv with her. One is boring compared to the other (I wouldn't be here if it were softball).