I carry 14, that way when one is sick, or volleyball ( school) we have enough. I usually sit a pitcher and catcher, rotate when I switch. parents understand come bracket play, that the 9 best are playing. U would be amazed at how quick one wants to sit out an inning too!
12U roster size
- Thread starter grcsftbll
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A funny story: I ran a summer rec league team that was made up largely of girls from my HS team, plus a few younger girls. Not all from our school, but most were. Quite a few of the girls told me they wanted to play in the summer, but they would have to miss x number of games because of jobs, vacations, etc. So I officially had 18 on the roster. Oh, and since it's a rec league, everybody bats.
It was never, ever an issue during the season. As I said, girls were out of town or working. One girl played for another team and would miss games. Another got hurt and missed most of the summer. A few others just weren't that dedicated. There were even a couple games where I had exactly 9 players.
Until the playoffs. For the first playoff game, we were playing a team that had not won a single game during the season (I believe we went 4-0 against them). And of course, everybody came with the exception of one girl who was on the roster but dropped out early in the summer and one other girl who I never heard from. The "out for the summer" injured girl even returned. So we had 16 players, many of them inexperienced, with a continuous lineup.
We lost 14-4, and the last 6 spots in the order went 0-7 with 2 BB and a hit by pitch. The girl who was hit by a pitch was our normal clean-up hitter who arrived late and was tossed on at the end.
So, um, I have no idea how many players you should have ideally, but I do know that whatever you choose, it's gonna blow up in your face at the worst possible time.
It was never, ever an issue during the season. As I said, girls were out of town or working. One girl played for another team and would miss games. Another got hurt and missed most of the summer. A few others just weren't that dedicated. There were even a couple games where I had exactly 9 players.
Until the playoffs. For the first playoff game, we were playing a team that had not won a single game during the season (I believe we went 4-0 against them). And of course, everybody came with the exception of one girl who was on the roster but dropped out early in the summer and one other girl who I never heard from. The "out for the summer" injured girl even returned. So we had 16 players, many of them inexperienced, with a continuous lineup.
We lost 14-4, and the last 6 spots in the order went 0-7 with 2 BB and a hit by pitch. The girl who was hit by a pitch was our normal clean-up hitter who arrived late and was tossed on at the end.
So, um, I have no idea how many players you should have ideally, but I do know that whatever you choose, it's gonna blow up in your face at the worst possible time.
- Mar 8, 2016
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IMHO 12 is the ideal number. You have to understand the girls on your team and set expectations as far as tournaments go. When dd played 12u she played on a team with 12. The tournament schedule was sent out at the beginning of the season and you were expected to give your availability to each tournament and stick to it. We had a dedicated group of girls and probably had 5 total tournaments missed by a girl. Even with 12 there is usually 1 or 2 girls who play a significantly reduced role. Some girls are happy with this but in my experience most are not. I respectfully disagree with Eric about players only being a CR for a tournament. I think all girls on the team deserve playing time on defense during the weekend. Every player should bat in pool play. We have never been on a team that only played the same 9 on Sunday in every game. We started first year 16u this fall with 15 on the roster. It was a disaster. HC and everyone else wound up hoping several girls would be unavailable for a tournament.
JMHO, 11 is the ideal number across the age groups. 12 can work. 13 is asking for trouble unless you are higher level and you can give the kids with less playing time more exposure that they may be seeking. The majority of girls don't play in college and play tournaments to play. Obviously there are injury concerns but I don't believe you should specifically plan for that. Experience tells me it's more an exception. They do occur but not usually to multiple players for entire seasons and most times we go seasons without injuries. When the older teams take 13+ players because of school tests, graduation parties and vacations, I've seen that it's one and sometimes two kids over a period of 3-4 tournaments and everyone is at all the rest. And all this is dependent on your number of pitchers and catchers and commitments to your tournament schedule. We've played with 8,9, 10 and pick up players.
Got a friend that runs a 12u team for a pretty good program. The team took 13 girls at tryouts, and then the head of the organization made the coach take a additional player. That made 14 girls on the 12u team. The fall season was a nightmare for the head coach trying to get the less gifted players playing time. Pool play he would bat the entire lineup. Bracket play he would play his best 9 or 10. Lots of pissed off parents about playing time. After the fall season ended he is down to 10 players now. He had 4 of the girls leave the team due to playing time and lack of success since the roster was so big.
The team lost a couple games where they had big leads in bracket play and the coach would bring in some of the subs and the team would end up loosing occasionally which made the good players mad. The lesser talented players were mad about playing time also. The whole deal turned out terrible. The coach lost his best player who played ss and was the #1 pitcher, lost the #3 pitcher, and 2 of the less talented players. Now he is scrambling to find two new players to add to the team over the winter.
The team lost a couple games where they had big leads in bracket play and the coach would bring in some of the subs and the team would end up loosing occasionally which made the good players mad. The lesser talented players were mad about playing time also. The whole deal turned out terrible. The coach lost his best player who played ss and was the #1 pitcher, lost the #3 pitcher, and 2 of the less talented players. Now he is scrambling to find two new players to add to the team over the winter.
The first time through with DD, I carried 12 players at 12U. At 14U I carried 12 also. Moving to 16U I carried 14 and at 18U I had 15 players. This year, I dropped back to a 12U team and I have 13 which is actually one more than I wanted but she was too good to pass up.
- Jun 12, 2015
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Thanks for the encouragement. LOL
Everyone is making great points on both sides. I can see both sides which isn't helping matters. DH will probably never have a girl play CR for a whole game, much less a whole tournament. He'll be more about winning in the spring than he is in the fall, probably bat 9 and play bracket a little more tightly, but this fall he's batted everyone and while there are girls who sit more than others based on current skill level, everybody has played every game. But right now we only have 10 playing; one of our players broke a bone before our first tournament and is still healing. Getting everyone play time at 13 instead of 10 is a lot harder I'm sure.
12U you can handle 12 no problem. A good coach can handle 13 and sometimes even 14 though that is really pushing it.
Softball Coaches don't take advantage of the substitution and DP/FLEX rules that are so different to baseball. Because you can re-enter players once there is no reason not to sub in runners on the bench even early in the game. Always courtesy run even if it is an equal speed swap or even close. And so on. Get players in and out - what are you waiting for exactly? And DP/FLEX is awesome because you basically have 10 players to field 9 positions without penalty.
Coaches also forget to give players on the bench roles to perform - everything from watching fielders, warming catchers up between innings, trying to read pitchers, looking for lazy fielders, etc, etc. No reason coach is out there catching the pitcher while waiting for the catcher to gear up if you have a bench. Just because they are not on the field doesn't mean they are not contributing. We would bat 9 in eliminations but everyone played or was involved in every game.
I expect 3 or 4 players could leave each year - but it has always been on good terms because while they may be leaving for a bigger role on another team (which we encourage - good for them) they were not 'forgotten on the bench' on our team - they had roles to play. Many have stayed and worked into larger roles because they felt they were growing into more. Some came back after seasons elsewhere. Some have succeeded beyond our expectations elsewhere - and good for them.
Older teams:
As you get older you get both sit-and-pitch players as well as 'rest' innings/games for fielding/batting pitchers and also catchers so you can have a larger roster. You also get more and more school and softball events - if a player NEEDS to go to a college/exposure camp one weekend she can't feel like she is letting the team down. If it is SAT/ACT Saturday then again you need more players on the roster. It is also a little easier because generally the entire roster can play softball (even if some are not as good as other). Rosters with 16 are not uncommon, but it is rare all 16 turn up. We are running 12 on our 16U-A team and frankly it is not enough.
Softball Coaches don't take advantage of the substitution and DP/FLEX rules that are so different to baseball. Because you can re-enter players once there is no reason not to sub in runners on the bench even early in the game. Always courtesy run even if it is an equal speed swap or even close. And so on. Get players in and out - what are you waiting for exactly? And DP/FLEX is awesome because you basically have 10 players to field 9 positions without penalty.
Coaches also forget to give players on the bench roles to perform - everything from watching fielders, warming catchers up between innings, trying to read pitchers, looking for lazy fielders, etc, etc. No reason coach is out there catching the pitcher while waiting for the catcher to gear up if you have a bench. Just because they are not on the field doesn't mean they are not contributing. We would bat 9 in eliminations but everyone played or was involved in every game.
I expect 3 or 4 players could leave each year - but it has always been on good terms because while they may be leaving for a bigger role on another team (which we encourage - good for them) they were not 'forgotten on the bench' on our team - they had roles to play. Many have stayed and worked into larger roles because they felt they were growing into more. Some came back after seasons elsewhere. Some have succeeded beyond our expectations elsewhere - and good for them.
Older teams:
As you get older you get both sit-and-pitch players as well as 'rest' innings/games for fielding/batting pitchers and also catchers so you can have a larger roster. You also get more and more school and softball events - if a player NEEDS to go to a college/exposure camp one weekend she can't feel like she is letting the team down. If it is SAT/ACT Saturday then again you need more players on the roster. It is also a little easier because generally the entire roster can play softball (even if some are not as good as other). Rosters with 16 are not uncommon, but it is rare all 16 turn up. We are running 12 on our 16U-A team and frankly it is not enough.
- Feb 12, 2014
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In my experience we have found that 12 is too many. Also, unless a parent has a good understanding of softball and their daughter's talent level (which is almost never), most of them will not consider running as playing. Heck, I have had trouble convincing school ball parents that being the DP or the Flex was playing.
We tend to bat everyone and play everyone some on defense in every pool play game we play - fall and summer. We try to bat the roster in bracket all fall as well. In the spring, if a tournament allows, we'll bat the roster even in early rounds of a tournament if we are confident of winning. Even that can come back to bite you. We were able to bat roster for about 4 weeks in a row in pool and bracket in the spring. When we felt we had a good feel for who was producing and were in a tournament where the competition dictated not batting the roster, we had a parent furious because we "suddenly" didn't have their daughter batting in bracket play. Ugh - parents!
We tend to bat everyone and play everyone some on defense in every pool play game we play - fall and summer. We try to bat the roster in bracket all fall as well. In the spring, if a tournament allows, we'll bat the roster even in early rounds of a tournament if we are confident of winning. Even that can come back to bite you. We were able to bat roster for about 4 weeks in a row in pool and bracket in the spring. When we felt we had a good feel for who was producing and were in a tournament where the competition dictated not batting the roster, we had a parent furious because we "suddenly" didn't have their daughter batting in bracket play. Ugh - parents!
- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
I think it's possible that there will be at least one unhappy parent on every team by the middle of spring. I haven't been on a team yet where that wasn't the case. I get it, having been the unhappy parent myself at one point. It's a big shift from watching out for what's best for your kid, to watching out for what's best for an entire team. Seems like sometimes ex-coaches make the best parents because they've been there.
