Playing Against Big players

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
II did not think DD would play last year, she did.

She signed up again this year.

She is 15, playing against 18U.

She is confident . She has been been buried and dug herself up, she is patient.

Wish I could be.,
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
My DD is almost always one of the smallest players on the field. She is a catcher and gets underestimated a lot. She is newly 13 - playing 14s.
I love watching the defense "relax" when she gets up to bat. She loves to fake a bunt or soft slap and then drill one out to LF.
 
Last edited:
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Last year DD was 12 going on 13 in May.. I signed her up for an 18U Rec league... We were terrified but the Rec players are not strong and it ended up helping her build confidence. She did not want to do it last year, this year she begged me to sign her up.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
"Big players" is all relative. There are some smallish type players that play big and there are big players that play small. I think the difference in size becomes real in 12U/14U as some girls develop earlier than others. Once they get to HS the players that put in the work will out pace the girls that were the "big" girls that relied on being big and somewhat athletic. I am scared of the smallish girls more so than some of the bigger girls because of ability.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Last year our 06 team played mostly A level 05 teams. A lot of the girls were twice the size of some of our girls. We didn't have a bigger than average team so they just looked tiny in comparison! It was interesting, we played up in a 12U at the start of spring season. We won one game, the other barely lost. The one where we got killed was the team with the biggest girls. They dwarfed our team. I don't think they were super awesome (it was like 11-0 in the end) but I think our kiddos were intimidated by how huge they were.
 
May 14, 2015
493
43
Bismarck ND
Sorry cant help, I have the big one lol, she will play 12u and is now 5'9" and 175-180lbs, and throws gas... thats good for two runs as shes just warming up :)
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Sorry cant help, I have the big one lol, she will play 12u and is now 5'9" and 175-180lbs, and throws gas... thats good for two runs as shes just warming up :)

So you get to hear the snide birth certificate comments then. Did she drive herself to the tournament, etc etc. Right now my DD is tall for her age but looks 10. I imagine this time next year I'll have to hear those comments if she keeps going in her current direction. So I try not to make them myself. We had one this weekend though. She truly looked at least 16 playing 10U. Not just tall but developed. Crazy how much it varies. A lot of the 10U girls we play against look older than my almost-13 year old DD who is very average sized.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
My DD 3 is average height, but really skinny, so people expect her not to have any power at all hitting or pitching. Thing is, like her siblings, she has deceptively strong legs, which give a lot of power to her swing and her pitch. Not to mention she's a fast base runner.

I've seen some interesting reactions from parents who haven't seen her play in the stands when she gets up to bat, or to pitch. This was especially true when she played rec league.
Sort of, oh, there's this really skinny girl coming up and HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????

She hasn't ever hit a ball over the fence, but has gotten close to it, and when people are expecting a dinky infield grounder that can be a surprise. Used to get lots of in-the-park HRs in rec league.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,478
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top