Inning Restrictions in HS Softball? Yes or No

[mad hornet]

I am guessing that you are referring to the shot that Sami from Silver Creek took to the chest Sunday? She is one tough cookie.

Were you there? Those were some scary moments. She showed a lot of poise afterward I thought.

 

[crystlemc]

Her sister plays with my dd on one of the Silver Creek 12 teams. We played right after you on field 2 Saturday night. After we got knocked out Sunday morning, we stuck around to watch some of the other games. Sami handled that shot with a ton of grit. We were teasing Matt about yelling at them to pick up the ball...lol.

 

[JNew0872]

I posted in the thread about pitching too much for a 9 year old that is applicable to this thread also. I think if limitations were imposed at younger levels forcing coaches to develop more pitchers at the younger levels instead of relying on just one in order to always win, then by high school there would be more than one good pitcher. If there is more than one good pitcher, than limitations would not have to be imposed at the higher levels because most coaches who have more than one good pitcher implement a pitching rotation. How great would it be to not worry about a pitcher having an off day because there is another pitcher? In my personal experience, off days are often (not always) due to being tired whether physically or mentally. When my daughter has an off day, I let her rest a couple of days and then she is back on, rested, refreshed, and throwing at the top of her game. Hard to get rested and refreshed when you are the only pitcher.

My daughter (only 11 years old) is the #1 pitcher on her team and I still believe limitations are needed. It is not always about the win and my daughter's success does not define me. I impose limitations which is easy since I am the coach. I believe it is my responsibility as a parent and a coach to protect my daughter and other kids from injury instead of making the win more important. They are too young to make that choice and what gives me the right to make winning that important. I would feel horrible if later in life my daughter has chronic pain due to me being so selfish when she was younger. I have a friend whose daughter is pitched every single game for the entire game. She loves it because her daughter is the star, is becoming popular because she is their star pitcher and they are winning games, and justifies overusing her because pitching is a natural motion so it does not cause injuries and she verified this with her travel ball coach. Plus, it is only for this season and her daughter never gets tired. How does she know? She asks her and she says she is not tired. Her accuracy is declining, her speed is dropping off, her mechanics are off but she is not tired. There are some parents and coaches who get it but there are too many who don't. That is why limitations are necessary.

 

[chinamigarden]

How small does a school have to be to not have at least 2 good pitchers? We have 650 total students in our HS and we have 5 pitchers (none are seniors) good enough to pitch HS varsity. Next year 2 more pitchers (that I know of) will be in 9th grade..

 

[marriard]

How small does a school have to be to not have at least 2 good pitchers? We have 650 total students in our HS and we have 5 pitchers (none are seniors) good enough to pitch HS varsity. Next year 2 more pitchers (that I know of) will be in 9th grade..

My DD just turned 10 and goes to a private school that goes from Pre-K all the way through High School and she would be the best pitcher on the high school team. And her friend would be the best catcher. There are some great HS softball teams locally but this school isn't one of them - or at least wont be until her and all her friends get to the upper campus. High School size is about 700 kids.
(That said you don't want to play the school in basketball, soccer, tennis or golf)