Junior High School Ball

I know there is a High School thread, so I thought I would start a JH thread.

Season so far is not what I was expecting. First game we got run ruled, 15-0. Second game we run ruled them, 15-2 I think. Last nights game we got run ruled again, 22-2.

DD2 is in 7th grade on the V team as the only 7th grader. Had no at bats first game, pitched to 2 batters for a total of about 5 pitches. First batter got a hit down first base line with a hard grounder that DD said F3 should have had. Next batter smashed a change up to F8, missed catch, ball kept rolling with no fence, HR and game is over due to run rule. I wasn't there, this is what DD told me.

Second game DD plays as F7 entire game. F1 is same as previous day. Pitched entire game, again. DD lays down beautiful bunt, called out on a strike that she watched, and was over her head but still a called strike. She heads to dugout laughing. Next at bat I honestly forget what she did, but she got on.

Last nights game (3rd game in row). F1 is same starting pitcher as previous 2 games. Girl is almost crying because her arm/shoulder is sore. Starts game. We score one run. DD is sitting bench. Other team is home team, their turn to bat. They went through their line up 2 and half times. Home runs and triples like crazy. I think there may have been 1 or 2 singles on bunts, rest were at least doubles. Score was ridiculous. Pulls starting pitcher and puts in DD. Gets 3 outs, ends inning. Next inning I think was 4 batters. 3rd inning, 2 outs. DD fires a FB, batter smokes a line drive right back at DD, blasts her in the left knee. Drops instantly. So we carry her of the field, grab some ice and get her to stop crying. Next inning comes up and she sees the other pitcher go out, and she starts crying again. I asked her whats wrong and she says "I feel bad cause I got hurt and cant pitch and I know her arm hurts". This kid. Blasted in the knee, already swollen and black and blue and she is worried about the other pitcher. Took her to the ER to get it checked out, thankfully xrays are good, just a bad bruise. Nothing till next Friday.

Not sure what team is going to do now, one pitcher being overused, crying on the rubber cause her arm hurts and the other out with a bum knee.

I know one thing though, DD is not happy about missing games next week. She said she will be able to hit Tuesday, our next game. Ugh....

Our middle school ball is a fall sport here. That will cause a slight problem for DD's travel team next year, since she'll be in 8th grade and most of her team will be freshman playing school ball in the spring. Around here it's kind of a crap shoot on what you get for middles school games. Good competitive games don't usually start until regionals.

Good news that her knee wasn't worse.

It like that here also with the teams. The schools that I know are close to travel teams are good. Ones that don't have travel teams in the area are pretty bad.

That's cool you have playoffs. We don't. Its regular season games only and they don't even keep track of records. Score is only kept for run rules basically. Other then that, it means nothing. Its kinda upsetting, the only record that means anything is HS Varsity. Pretty sure even JV for the HS doesn't have playoffs.

first year of watching JR high ball. area counties except ours, allows 6th graders to play on jr high teams. my DD a 6th grader, our 12u travel ball team consists of 6th/7th graders. got three talented 6th graders watching from the sidelines. Anyway, I think it should be a requirement for some of these jr coaches or PE teachers to take some coaching clinics and not collect just a stipend check. I've seen pitcher parents calling pitches from the stands, some parents giving there kids the bunt sign, kids quitting then getting back on the team during mid season, all kinds of drama. The coaches, bless their hearts, provide no coaching, no strategy, no pitching calls or anything....not one bunt all season. Had three girls missed a game due to a band function that if they missed it they would have gotten an F for a grade. Asst Coach belittles them infront of other players and parents at the game. I guess Student-Athlete was hard to comprehend for that coach. They just stand in the coaching boxes keeping up with the book and cheering the girls, lol. Our jr high has lost one game in 6 yrs of existence, this season .500 going into districts this week. our high school team is a powerhouse, nationally ranked this year in the top 15...well at least the 8th graders are moving on next season and the team looks a lot better with the 3 talented girls coming in next year.

Man, that sounds like a mess. 6-8 graders is a big jump.

My area allows 9th graders on the JH team, so they can end up with 7-9th graders. My DD is in 7th. Pretty sure the last team we faced the pitcher and most of the rest of the team was 9th graders. School only has a V at JH and HS. I think they may have the 10-12 on V HS and 9 and down on JH. Big kids pitching that were throwing smoke. So crazy the differences in areas and JH levels. 3 years age difference is to much at the lower grades.

wow...I seen it all this season. I am glad I went to see these games so I wont be shell shocked when my DD play junior high ball next year. Head coach bench #1 player on the team, probably the whole district, during bracket play in district tournament just because she forget her batting helmet at practice 3 days ago. I mean she had her helmet at districts. The team lost to a lower seed team, first losing season in 8 years of the schools existence.

DD gets to practice tonight after the line drive to the knee. Had a game the other day, other pitcher threw 125 pitches. Told my dd that she felt her shoulder pop when she pitched and it was killing her. Not looking good for her. Next week we play 3 games, plus DD has a tournament with TB team on the weekend. Hopefully she wont have to pitch all 3 games in the week. From the way it has been going though, she will be lucky to pitch one.

Wow. After hearing you guys I feel pretty blessed with DD's middle school team lol. They have enough girls for a 7th & 8th grade team. In fact they probably end up cutting 10 or more girls from tryouts for each team. DD and 1 other 6th grader made the 7th grade team two years ago, and this year her & 2 other 7th graders got invited to regionals with the 8th graders. Coaching is kind of meh on both teams. Practices are laid back & pretty much ran by the players, and there is not a lot of planning or strategy that goes into games. Calling pitches is really about it. They are very supportive, positive, & upbeat though. If a player forgets something it usually results in running. I don't believe I have ever seen a player benched. All that being said she has played in a probably 40 MS games the last two years and maybe lost two.

Hope your DD has a good week! Sounds like she might get a lot of work in. We are not allowed to play school ball & TB at the same time here.

DD's school has softball this year for the very first time in the school's history, and the "season" will amount to 5 games, plus a 2-game "playoff". HC and AC are long-time rec ball coaches who do a moderate-to-good job teaching basics of the game. HC is a good manager. The team (one team, 12 girls) is a mix of TB players, current rec players, former rec players, and newbies. #1 pitcher is slow, but does a reasonable job of getting the ball in the strike zone most of the time.

First game last week was against a team with a 14U TB pitcher. Our two TB players (both 12U) and one of the better rec players went 2-for-2, a couple of others had hits. The rest struggled badly against her decent speed. Game ended with a 6-5 walk-off loss when a fly ball bounced off the glove of our LF.

DD and her very good friend play on the 8th grade team. Its the only time they play together as they are very competitive with one another in a good way. But they both are good pitchers. The rest of the team is comprised of girls who do not play TB or Rec. Hardest part has been to get a catcher ready who can catch these two. First game of the season DD got the nod. She had a no/no going until the last inning. Her coach said to her "you know you have a no hitter going" DD was like "what did you say coach?" She K'ed the first girl and the second batter tattooed a ball to deep center... Triple. Then DD finished them off. 14 K's..
Her friend got the nod in game 2. She threw a 1 hitter!! DD played SS and had a few nice plays. DD's friend is hitting 3rd and DD is hitting 4th.
Bases loaded DD's friend hits a nice shot to center. CF misplays and 4 runs score
DD gets up with the bases now clear and first pitch she hits the ball all of 230' to left and scores. So far it's been fun. Hoping we see some completion soon.
One thing that's nice is seeing these two grow up as pitchers. I remember when neither of them could throw a strike. I now see them as 1-2 in HS one day.