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

[erniekru]

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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In my experience in socal, DD is a senior and my son is 12yo, it's quite the opposite. I think the level of play for girls softball was higher for 8-12yo, but now that puberty is kicking in, I'm starting to see some early staches and 4in growth spurts. DD has always been on hard charging teams.

I think a lot of it is that girls possess a bigger attention span at younger ages than boys.

Either way, baseball or softball will be fine for their development.

 

[BallparkMomma]

Sarah Hudek


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

That's awesome!! I tell her that there are girls succeeding in baseball. I'm just afraid that strictly based on availability her opportunities will be vastly limited in that arena. But I'm also unbelievably proud of her. She definitely forges her path and dances to her own drum

 

[BallparkMomma]

Thank you all for your input! I am not at all opposed to letting her find her own way. I was just wondering from the softball side of things if any of you had any advice or opinions. We live in the metro Atlanta area and baseball is LIFE down here. She loves bb, I actually had to put a parental lock on her tv because I would catch her in the middle of the night up watching Braves games on the DVR. She's a spitfire and she's definitely her own person. In fact, she really enjoys the fact that she's the only girl. We got invited after last spring to tryout for a few of our local travel teams. She made all 3 (tryouts were all around the same time) but at 2 of them, some of the boys were giving her a hard time for being a girl. Luckily, she's got thick skin and she said it just made it all the more satisfying when she ripped dingers. Fortunately, her team now is amazing and welcomed her with open arms. That's something I've never dealt with and of course, as parents, we constantly worry about them, their environments, and if we're doing right by them.

I just wondered if any of y'all dealt with similar situations and how you did or would approach it. I appreciate ALL of your input!!

 

[Dabears17]

I've seen girls hold their own in baseball until they were 12, then the things the boys were talking about in the dugout helped them decide to switch to softball when they were 12 or 13. There is a freshman at my DD's old high school who is playing baseball this year.

When my DD was 10, one of the coaches brought a bucket of baseballs to All-star practice and, after seeing how easy it was to hit a baseball far, the girls decided baseball was easy.

It might be an advantage to play baseball until they are 9 or 10, then switch to softball.

Info about girl's baseball leagues:

Girls' Baseball Teams - Baseball for All

baseballforall.com

 

[Vertigo]

Mone Davis of Little League fame played baseball and switched over to softball in HS. She then played for 2 years in college, I believe. Dd pitched against her in HS. She was fun to watch. Very quick feet at SS.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

We had two local girls play baseball until they reached HS. Both were very good softball players who stuck with baseball until the game told them it was time to go. One now plays D1 at Fordham, and the other plays at a D3 school in the area.

Eventually, the speed of the game passed them both by. Sure, there are some who will say softball is a faster game, but that's just because it looks faster on the smaller field. As those girls reached HS, they were done growing, but the boys who were 5'6" in 8th grade are now 5'10" in 10th grade. They're also much faster and stronger.

We also had one girl who played travel softball play baseball in HS because her district was so small that they couldn't field a softball team. It was a feel good story for everyone, but the truth is she played in a C League with only the smallest schools, and when she played the B team for the championship, she was completely overmatched. She could have been great, but she was a jack of all trades, master of none. She played soccer, basketball, and softball, and she never committed to one. She's now at Ohio State, loving life, but she's not playing any sports.

 

[BallparkMomma]

I've seen girls hold their own in baseball until they were 12, then the things the boys were talking about in the dugout helped them decide to switch to softball when they were 12 or 13. There is a freshman at my DD's old high school who is playing baseball this year.

When my DD was 10, one of the coaches brought a bucket of baseballs to All-star practice and, after seeing how easy it was to hit a baseball far, the girls decided baseball was easy.

It might be an advantage to play baseball until they are 9 or 10, then switch to softball.

Info about girl's baseball leagues:

Girls' Baseball Teams - Baseball for All

baseballforall.com

Ya know, I haven't even thought about that aspect of it all. I'm sure the boy talk will run her off sooner or later

 

[Orange Socks]

DD had a teammate who's big sister played softball at Bucknell AND she also played for the US National Women's baseball team. Her name is littered all throughout the Bucknell record book. How much actual baseball she played prior to softball...I have no idea.

 

[Comp]

My daughter wanted nothing to do with softball and played little league baseball. She was one of the better players and played all the way to first year of seniors. That was when the boys hit their growth spurt and it became pretty apparent she was not going to keep up with them any longer. She made the switch to softball 2nd year 14's, played 1 year 14, 1 year 16 and 3 years 18. 4 year varsity starter, state championships team her senior year, 2 years juco and 2 years D1. Her senior year of college she was ranked 88th in the nation.

I don't think there is any huge rush to force your daughter into switching immediately. There are a lot of cross over between the sports.

 

[CoachJD]

The part of me that loves softball and wants to grow the game wants to say "switch now," but everyone else here is right. There is no harm to her in sticking with baseball for now. She'll switch when she needs to switch. She may never switch, and that's fine, too.

Have you considered doing both? The rec league around here has several girls who play on a baseball and softball team. A lot of those girls develop faster since they're not only getting twice the reps, but they're forced to make the little adjustments required by the games' differences.