Need an opinion about 1st year FP league vs very experienced pitcher

[Foots]

For several years I've been coaching my daughter's slow pitch team, hoping that one day our local commission will offer fastpitch. Any kid that wants to play fastpitch has to travel to a town either 50 miles to the north, 50 miles to the east, or be on a TB team to play. Its a small town, so not a lot of parents can afford that. Each season, the commission has said if enough coaches get together in the same age group, we could have a FP league. After talking to the other coaches in our age group last season, we all decided to try the commission out on their offer and switch to FP. We got 5 teams in the 13u age group and just started our first season of FP. I'm stoked!

I notice a team that practices near us has a pitcher that is throwing gas. I mean it looks like its going every bit of 50mph. That's pretty quick for a girl in 13u. Now keep in mind, none of my team has FP experience. Most of this league is the exact same way. So in our first game against this girl, she pitches a perfect game. None of my girls can hit a ball coming that fast, which is my fault for not preparing them enough for that kind of speed. This girl is now 14 and will probably be pitching for the HS next year, and she has told her mom she is not having fun striking out 5th graders. Myself, I don't have a problem with this girl pitching in our league because this is what we signed up for, and I have told her coach the same thing. However, my AC, the other coaches in our group, and tons of parents have a huge problem with a girl that has 6 years of FP experience pitching in a league with no experience whatsoever. How would you guys feel about this? Would it be a problem with you if you were in the position we are in?

 

[JAD]

If the flame thrower is that much better than everyone else in the league she needs to travel the 50 miles and play on a TB team. Your league will be a lot more successful if each of the 5 teams can develop their own pitcher at the same time.

 

[Coachmom]

I don't have a problem with it but I am coming from an experienced point of view. I don't know if I would like it that much if I didn't know anything about fastpitch softball.
If this is going to be her last year in this level what's the big deal?
You could use it as the starting point for where you want all your pitchers to be in a few years.

 

[Foots]

She does play TB and in a league in the town 50 miles to the north lol. She just pitches here on the days she's not playing there. This will be her last year our age group. I can't wait to see her pitch for the HS.

 

[Coach Fastpitch]

An old saying, "you have to beat the best to be the best" - anonymous...

 

[jacketsfan]

I think that you will find that, with practice, your players will catch up to her. There was a girl I knew who threw about 55 at that age. Well, about 18 months later, we got better, and she hadn't. We hit the snot out of her, and she cried on the mound. Her dad wanted to fight me after the game for having my weaker players bunt (she couldn't field a bunt, so we bunted right to the circle - in his view, that was not fair).

When we first started TB, a team beat us 20-0 in a 1-hr, 1 inning game. Our kid were shell-shocked. It was their first TB game ever. After the game, he told me we should take up tennis. Well, a year later, that team, and my older daughter's team, run-ruled his team in the same tourney.

I say bring it on. It's tough at first, but hopefully your girls have a good attitude. Against someone they are overmatched against, just bunt. Try to teach them to place bunts at different points on the field, so the other team actually has a little pressure on their defense. You'd be amazed at how a whole team bunting can force errors on a team that should run-rule you.

 

[sleepwalker]

My personal opinion is that having a girl throw around 50 mph will be good for your league. Sure it is the first year of your league but she is setting the pitching bar high for the girls that come behind her. I'd be willing to bet that when she is pitching, there are a few younger sisters sitting in the crowd with their dads looking at this pitcher throw a softball and are saying I want to be able to pitch like that when I am her age.

Most little kids that I have coached in various sports have always had this magical idea like, "When I am old like my coach, I will be able to throw a ball like that and hit a ball like that". I discovered this early on when I was coaching my daughter in T-Ball. If I got up and demonstrated a skill like hitting off of the tee, the kids didn't progress extremely fast. But when I taught the skill to my daughter or another individual on the team their own age and had them demonstrate hitting off of a tee, every little kid would say, "If that little girl can hit that ball that hard off of a tee, then so can I".

I think four or five years down the road when the league is becoming stronger and the younger sisters are taking over the fastpitch league that you are starting, there will be three or four girls hurling the ball with consistency. I would say, let this girl set the fastpitch pitching bar for those that follow.

 

[sluggers]

This girl is now 14 and will probably be pitching for the HS next year, and she has told her mom she is not having fun striking out 5th graders. Myself, I don't have a problem with this girl pitching in our league because this is what we signed up for, and I have told her coach the same thing. However, my AC, the other coaches in our group, and tons of parents have a huge problem with a girl that has 6 years of FP experience pitching in a league with no experience whatsoever. How would you guys feel about this? Would it be a problem with you if you were in the position we are in?

(1) The problem is not with the kid, it is with her coach. If I were the flamethrower's coach, I would not let her pitch a perfect game. She would get 2 or 3 innings a game, and my second pitcher would get 2 or 3 innings a game. But, there is no point in calling out the coach or whining about it. Idiots are a fact of life.
(2) If I'm coaching against her, I go with the short game, good defense and try to run them into the ground.

 

[Foots]

(1) The problem is not with the kid, it is with her coach. If I were the flamethrower's coach, I would not let her pitch a perfect game. She would get 2 or 3 innings a game, and my second pitcher would get 2 or 3 innings a game. But, there is no point in calling out the coach or whining about it. Idiots are a fact of life.
(2) If I'm coaching against her, I go with the short game, good defense and try to run them into the ground.

Man I wish we could run them into the ground lol. We've got a few bigger girls than aren't very fast. We're basically a slowpitch team trying to play fastpitch. My DD has some wheels, along with about four others, but that's it.

The second time we faced that team, the flamethrower played catcher the entire game. They still beat us pretty bad though lol. Baby steps. We're the youngest team in this age group, so its coming along rather slow. We'll get there though.