Pitching speeds at LL World Series.....
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Don't know if it's true, because I never saw the gun with my own eyes, but there is a pitcher from a 12U team in Oregon that is rumored to have hit 60. Supposedly she consistently threw 55-58. The team was the "Nightmare". Maybe some of the Oregon peeps can verify this urban legend.
- Jun 19, 2013
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I might believe it Speed we never faced her but we only got one hit on their #2 gal - who we thought was the #1 gal at the time, and then we heard "oh no, that's the much slower one". #2 could throw HARD and seemed to be able to put it wherever she wanted.
Bucket Pinata may be able to verify this. I'm pretty sure his DD's team played them a few times this year. I've also heard they have 2 solid pitchers. One that throws hard and has excellent control (the one you faced) and one who throws even harder, with less control, but a good c/up to make up for it.
do you know what tournament that is was when you faced the nightmare?
- Dec 7, 2011
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So I looked back in my "scrapbook" that I have been keeping for my DD that I hope she will appreciate in the future. I looked at 2008 & 2009 where we had the fortune to be our state representatives to the Central Regionals for LL those two years in a row. (This is back when all we knew of was LL and was totally unaware of the more competitive national TB route yet.)
Well I thought my DD was pretty fast for her age and we went into the Central Regionals not knowing they were going to be hyper-data-collecting on all the pitchers there. They had at least two LL organization folks walking around with the big Juggs guns taking readings from all the pitchers. The last day of pool play I was behind the back-stop and overheard the two LL officials comparing notes on pitchers speeds. They were talking about my DD that was the 2nd fastest there at 53mph and that there was another girl there throwing 54.
Well we played the other pitcher throwing 54 from Kentucky and here is what I would say in reference to this whole thread:
Did the Virginia girl throw 58mph. I would say yup she probably did. Maybe with a couple + mph equipment calibration drift over the years (relating this to what I see in the college tv use of speed guns). I remember the 2009 pitcher from Kentucky and I just saw pictures again of my DD back then. The 2009 Kentucky pitcher was just a very big & tall girl with allot of brute strength. My DD was not anywhere as physically mature as the current Virginia pitcher.
Given that kids get bigger/faster/more-mature earlier over the years and couple that with the better training that kids receive these days and I believe pitchers are getting faster younger.
What I would be really curious to see is where that Virginia pitchers speed goes to from here. I would stab at the guess that given her physical maturity and probably highly trained nature so far that I bet she might be pretty "topped-out" and I would bet she has difficulty getting past 60mph from this old age of 12 (or whatever she is).
Well I thought my DD was pretty fast for her age and we went into the Central Regionals not knowing they were going to be hyper-data-collecting on all the pitchers there. They had at least two LL organization folks walking around with the big Juggs guns taking readings from all the pitchers. The last day of pool play I was behind the back-stop and overheard the two LL officials comparing notes on pitchers speeds. They were talking about my DD that was the 2nd fastest there at 53mph and that there was another girl there throwing 54.
Well we played the other pitcher throwing 54 from Kentucky and here is what I would say in reference to this whole thread:
Did the Virginia girl throw 58mph. I would say yup she probably did. Maybe with a couple + mph equipment calibration drift over the years (relating this to what I see in the college tv use of speed guns). I remember the 2009 pitcher from Kentucky and I just saw pictures again of my DD back then. The 2009 Kentucky pitcher was just a very big & tall girl with allot of brute strength. My DD was not anywhere as physically mature as the current Virginia pitcher.
Given that kids get bigger/faster/more-mature earlier over the years and couple that with the better training that kids receive these days and I believe pitchers are getting faster younger.
What I would be really curious to see is where that Virginia pitchers speed goes to from here. I would stab at the guess that given her physical maturity and probably highly trained nature so far that I bet she might be pretty "topped-out" and I would bet she has difficulty getting past 60mph from this old age of 12 (or whatever she is).
Has anyone run the math to calculate at what speed (top & average) the ball must travel to remain "flat" and not have an arc?
Most intestested in 43' calculations, but 40' would be inetersting too.
- May 17, 2012
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Every pitch has an arc, even Nolan Ryans 100 MPH fastball.
The question you are asking is at what speed does the pitch "appear" to be flat.
- Mar 28, 2013
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Yes we Battled that nightmare team most of the year. The first time we faced them they did not throw #1 and we won that game 5-3.After that we got the #1.I put a pocket radar on her and she would average about 56 but did throw a few game pitches at 58.She is a great athlete and great young lady, along with that whole team. The first few games we had trouble timming her up but by nationals we were seeing that heat pretty good. Allot depended on blue, if he was calling letters high fastball for a strike and we had to defend that she was pretty unhittable but with a standard zone we learned to foul her off till we got something to hit. At Nat we made her throw 69 pitches in two innings. Still came up short 2 to 3 but it was a great game. Did notice that the speed would drop slightly as the tourney went on so I believe at that age its hard to maintain that kind of speed along with some loss of control. Still a great young pitcher with all the tools and she throws as advertised. They were great games to watch,My DD throwin 54 with crazy movement and her throwing 56+ trying to blow it by you.Our games always came down to which team made the fewest errors.
While at a tourney last month, I wandered over to a crowd of people watching a skills competition of 10u girls. One of the events was a fastest pitch contest. I was excited because one of my pitching students was in it and I was sure she had this in the bag...( she's 10u(11 yo) and throws a consistent 46-47mph) she got second place to a scrawny, short, super skinny girl that was a true 10yo, she threw 51mph!!! Here in a couple years, look out! The fundamentals are getting better and better and these kids are getting really good at a young age. That video of the 6yo that someone posted last week is proof.
