Stay in 12U or move up to 14U?

[iasoftballmom]

This is my first time posting, but I've found tons of useful information on this site. Here is the situation we find ourselves in...

My dd is 12 and doesn't turn 13 until July. This is her 3rd year pitching and in the area we play in, I would consider her to be in the top half of pitchers we've seen, but no where near the "elite" level. Reading posts on the site, I can see that other areas of the country are far more advanced than ours, where at the 12u level we've seen only a handful of pitchers that have a change-up.

On my daughter's travel team the coach's daughter is our other pitcher. They typically alternate pitching games and while the other pitcher has more velocity, my dd has better control. This year her travel team is moving up to 14u because this other pitcher is 13. There has been some discussion (behind our back) that our dd should pitch for our school's 12U team and allow the coach's daughter to be the 14U pitcher. Both girls are in 7th grade and will be competing for the high school team next spring.

That being said - is it better to move up and face the better, stronger competition or pitch every game and be competitive at the 12U level? My dd is working with a pitching coach and she said she would be ready for 14U competition, but I know the team overall will struggle at that level.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Lynne

 

[Sweet Lou]

From what you describe I'd say your DD would be better off in U12 betting more innings. Only if she is elite in U12 would I move her up.

 

[quincy]

If you think your DD will be in the upper 30 to 40% of the league pitchers and will get circle time move her up.

(Few parents of DD’s old Team, in a nice way, are happy to be seeing the back of DD. Parents of player she is moving up with is not to happy. Oh well)

 

[Coach JV]

The overall game speed increases dramatically when
you move from 12 to 14U. Unless your DD is and elite
pitcher, I too suggest you keep her down to get comfortable throwing
at least one movement pitch in addition to
her FB and CU.

 

[Jojo]

There are a lot of things to consider when moving a pitcher up, and you should really weigh all your options and try and make the best decision.
I have seen a lot of pitchers quit pitching after their parent decided for different reasons to move their DD up.

Personally I moved my DD up every year--except 12U. I think 12U is a great age to really get in pitching time and develop control, speed, a change up and a breaking pitch or two. Not to mention mound performance, stamina, focus and that killer instinct.

Let her work hard in 12u, see if she can be at the top of the other pitchers. Maybe she can pick up for the other team occasionally, or another 14u team?
If she is already dominating and competitive at 12u, then by all means move her up.

 

[sluggers]

As a full disclosure: My DD went from pitching 12U rec ball to 16U travel...

The truth about softball pitching:

"There can be only one"
"If you're not first, you're last."
​

You said that she and the other pitcher are in 7th grade together and will be competing for the HS team. The reality is that either your DD or the other pitcher will be the top dog on the HS team by their junior year. If your DD isn't the top dog, she won't pitch much. (I'm not saying I agree with this, but that is the way it is. An example: My DD and another girl were pitchers on the HS team. They split the games, until the "big games"...in which case, my DD pitched them all. And, her coach was generous to the other girl--on most teams, the other girl wouldn't have pitched at all.)

If you think the other girl is going to be the top dog, then your DD should stay down at 12U and enjoy being the head honcho. If your DD wants to be the top pitcher on the HS team, then she has to move up to 14U. She might fail and not be able to do it...but, it is better to find out now and let her develop a different position to play.

 

[chinamigarden]

This is my first time posting, but I've found tons of useful information on this site. Here is the situation we find ourselves in...

My dd is 12 and doesn't turn 13 until July. This is her 3rd year pitching and in the area we play in, I would consider her to be in the top half of pitchers we've seen, but no where near the "elite" level. Reading posts on the site, I can see that other areas of the country are far more advanced than ours, where at the 12u level we've seen only a handful of pitchers that have a change-up.

On my daughter's travel team the coach's daughter is our other pitcher. They typically alternate pitching games and while the other pitcher has more velocity, my dd has better control. This year her travel team is moving up to 14u because this other pitcher is 13. There has been some discussion (behind our back) that our dd should pitch for our school's 12U team and allow the coach's daughter to be the 14U pitcher. Both girls are in 7th grade and will be competing for the high school team next spring.

That being said - is it better to move up and face the better, stronger competition or pitch every game and be competitive at the 12U level? My dd is working with a pitching coach and she said she would be ready for 14U competition, but I know the team overall will struggle at that level.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Lynne

Is your dd ready to move up to the longer distance of 14u? The extra 3 feet is much longer then it sounds.

 

[tmolina]

In AZ they still pitch from 40ft for 14u as does 12u so that wouldn't be an issue if you were here. Also high school ball isn't until 9th grade not 8th grade like you stated, where are you from? I say stay down until she has an effective changeup and good rise or drop or until she ages up and has to go. The older girls will hit fastballs and if there is no changeup will just look for the fastball all day. Good luck with the decision.

 

[tojo]

There is no guarantee the 13 yr. old will progress quicker than your DD because she moves up to 14U and necessarily be better than your DD when she gets to the 9th grade. If your DD is not being challenged in 12U, I would suggest she move up. But if she is not dominating the competition, I would keep her down. Does she have more than a FB and CU? I know in my area if you don't have movement pitchs in 14U, you will get rocked. I've seen pitchers peak at very young ages and never seem to get better and some improve steadily overtime and become more dominant as they mature. I believe to be a good pitcher you have to develop confidence and a little swagger and she is more likely to achieve this by staying in her age group. I have a pitcher at 14 was moved to 18U Gold Showcase because the coach saw her pitch and thought she was ready. She was physically ready, but not mentally. After a couple of tournaments you could see the doubt in her abilities to pitch at the elite levels and compete against the best and she considered quitting. I told her Dad when he decided to join the showcase that she could use a year at 16U before taking such a leap to an elite Gold team, but he thought she would be just fine. The first game she pitched she did well but the 2nd game she got rocked and it went downhill from that point. She dropped down to a 16U for the remainder of the year and regained the confidence that was crushed earlier. She rejoined the showcase team and she has done very well. I suggest you stay with her age group and if she is not being challenged, she can always be moved up.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Very tough situation indeed.

My experience in this situation has been that I identify and agree completely with Sluggers thread above then add the final consideration Tojo states with "I believe to be a good pitcher you have to develop confidence and a little swagger".

You have got to decide if your DD's "swagger" is going to get damaged (beyond the one bad game sadness). If it is then I believe it's not worth the risk to keep her in pace with the other pitcher for the HS concern. I think the swagger part is HUGE and once it gets diminished it's a hard road back to that needed confidence level.

But if yer DD is up for challenges in life, and especially if she's the 2nd of only two pitchers,(with the long season I would believe she should get good mound-time), I would say go for it. 12U through 16U is a crazy time for girls. The maturing process coupled with the emerging personal life can take a girl anywhere. You might find that your DD progresses through this span while the other "better" pitcher has already maxxed-out. You could find that the other pitcher gets an injury that takes her out the whole season leaving your DD the opportunity to carry the older team the whole year (and this could be a leap-frog moment!)

Sit back, assess your DD relative to the level of play she would be entering, talk to her about her desires (assessing the swagger-status moving into that next level), and I am sure you will make the right decision. I would recommend that you definitely make her part of the decision to make sure you get her "buy-in" regardless of the outcome.