Need some 10U advice please...

[Eric F]

For my local league, 10u plays kid pitch until 4 balls, then coach will pitch. Coach pitch is unlimited. Once the batter puts the ball in play or batter strikes out, next batter is kid pitch again. New rule change this year will be that runners are allowed to steal while kids are pitching, one base per pitch, no stealing home.

This pretty much describes how we run 8U for the first half of the the season. The only difference is that coach pitch is not unlimited. On a 4-0 count, the coach will get 3 pitches to their player. 4-2 count, 1 coach pitch. If they don't put the ball in play, it's a K.

 

[dthompson]

Some great advice so far; thank you. Does anyone have any unique rules that would help the pace of play? ie no stealing home

 

[Rocketech1]

Our ASA league (and I think most in CA) use a hybrid player/coach pitch in 8U until the end of March, and then go to all player pitch to get ready for the league tournament and all-stars. 10U is all player pitch. I see lots of 10U pitchers - and even 8Us - who not only throw strikes consistently, but also throw damn hard, hit spots, and can wreck you with a good change-up.

I agree STRONGLY that anything other than player pitch in 10U is a mistake. If the pitchers are struggling, don't slow their development by replacing them with a machine, increase their instruction. Kids that age are very capable of pitching very well, if given the ability to develop. Also, it's critical for both hitters and pitchers to develop together (IMO). 10U without players pitching breeds 12U pitchers who are getting shelled by kids who have been working on their hitting for multiple years.

I will echo Eric's advice. IMO, pitching machines should NEVER be used in games. At 6U, use coach pitch. At 8U, use a hybrid approach with both kid pitch and coach pitch (as the season progresses, all kid pitch). At 10U, its all kid pitch, using the official rules of softball. For example, ASA would include dropped third strike, infield fly rule, can steal any base, including home, etc.

But with that said, your league needs to develop its players for this to work, especially the pitchers and catchers (e.g. mandatory clinics) when they are in 8U so by the time they are 10U they are somewhat proficient. Many times the local pitching and hitting instructors will run free clinics (because they are looking for new clientele). Use this to your advantage.

 

[marriard]

For my local league, 10u plays kid pitch until 4 balls, then coach will pitch. Coach pitch is unlimited. Once the batter puts the ball in play or batter strikes out, next batter is kid pitch again. New rule change this year will be that runners are allowed to steal while kids are pitching, one base per pitch, no stealing home.

Machines might be nice to get a little more speed then what the coaches throw, but I would HIGHLY recommend that the kids pitch most of the time. Moving from 10u to 12u is hard enough.

We didn't do unlimited coach pitch. We did 'every pitch the coach throws is a strike' - and they came in ONLY at 3-1 and 3-0 (3-2 we let the kid pitch and batter walk). We allowed one foul off on the last pitch - so if they came in with a 3-0 count they could throw at most 4 pitches. We also had a 'hard pitch' coach pitch rule - if the pitch went higher than the batters shoulder it was a dead ball. Coaches were told - "Throw it hard". We actually threw harder than most of the kids which encouraged our players to swing at good kid pitches as well.

 

[quincy]

What my brother’s league did was player pitch for the first 3 innings, coach pitch all innings after. Also if a Team walked 3 batter they lost their right to pitch the remainder of that inning. I might tweak it a little bit but I like the concept.

Also no dropped 3rd strike or stealing home, I am OK with both those rules.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Our VP of softball has asked me to consider pitching machines for our 10U league as our 9/10 year olds really struggle throwing hittable pitches. Are any of you using pitching machines? What are some thoughts concerning this issue?

TIA.

When you say "VP of softball", does this mean that yours is not a dedicated softball organization?

Regardless, as the others have already stated, it's pure player pitch after 8u, regardless of what the games look like.

 

[DanDare]

I hate the machines, but our league bought them so we use them. Besides the points already made here regarding developing pitchers, there is a safety issue. The machine is sitting in the middle of the infield the whole game. After a few games last year, we were forced to leave a coach standing in front of the machine at all times. It's also one more judgement call for the umpire to make when a ball grazes the machine and play has to stopped.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Eric, Thanks allot, You are right, just another bit of evidence of fewer and fewer brain cells actually firing.

I think it was more a case of just accessing the wrong memory cell as the advice was good IMO!

 

[SoAZDad]

Don't do it.

6U,hit off tee.

8U, let girls pitch until 4 balls then let coach pitch.

10U on their own.

 

[CoachHarley]

We played in a league that did this exactly this. It worked well .It was always funny how in an effort to give their own player a easily hittable ball the coaches pitched worse than the kids.

Happened to me all the time, or I would strike out every player.