How important is getting innings?

Snotbubbles said:

This team isn't making it through a Sunday bracket. It's mostly all first year 12s.

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I'm sorry I misunderstood I thought you said this was a nationally ranked organization guess that is the "organization" not this team.

Well if they are not going through many championship bracket I would expect them do start advertising for a good #1 pitcher too get them over the hump.

djcarter1966 said:

I'm sorry I misunderstood I thought you said this was a nationally ranked organization guess that is the "organization" not this team.

Well if they are not going through many championship bracket I would expect them do start advertising for a good #1 pitcher too get them over the hump.

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Correct, organization is nationally ranked. This is the first year that they are having a 12u team.

At this age, she needs to be on a team with 3 pitchers max and preferably play a secondary position (and bat) when not pitching. There is so much more to pitching than whether or not you can throw a drop ball and the only way you get that experience is by being in the circle. Fielding your position, covering back up assignments, being the cutoff, learning how to handle game pressure, mental and physical fatgue in the last inning win bases loaded, pitch strategy, when to try to get the lead runner and when to get the easy out, fielding bunts, line drives, and pop ups at the baseline, etc. There is so much to learn. It's the toughest position in softball (slightly ahead of catcher) and it takes many years to be providing at it.

This is the first time this Org. has had a 12U team and they have 7 pitchers? Count on at least 3 or 4 and maybe even 5 of them leaving the team. There is always another alternative where she is a better fit.

CLM265 said:

This is the first time this Org. has had a 12U team and they have 7 pitchers? Count on at least 3 or 4 and maybe even 5 of them leaving the team. There is always another alternative where she is a better fit.

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Yes. I can foresee issues arising from this. After a family discussion and input from her PC we have decided to find a team where she will get innings to work on some new pitches and fine tune her other pitches. We have a workout with another team we received a recommendation on from a friend who had a DD who played for the coach. We'll check out the national organization again when DD hits the 14U level.

Rocketech1 said:

learning how to handle game pressure.

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I was wondering if this is something that really can be learned. Luckily my DD does not seem to let the pressure get to her, though she is new to pitching for TB. I see other girls on her team that have been pitching for a few years, and we can see the reaction on her face one someone gets a hit to the outfield, or an error is made. Another girl seems to lose all control once she walks one or two batters.

I imagine game experience helps develop this even further, but must an athlete have that mindset before they ever become a pitcher?

Snotbubbles said:

Yes. I can foresee issues arising from this. After a family discussion and input from her PC we have decided to find a team where she will get innings to work on some new pitches and fine tune her other pitches. We have a workout with another team we received a recommendation on from a friend who had a DD who played for the coach. We'll check out the national organization again when DD hits the 14U level.

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Sounds like a good plan, best of luck.

Bob516 said:

I was wondering if this is something that really can be learned. Luckily my DD does not seem to let the pressure get to her, though she is new to pitching for TB. I see other girls on her team that have been pitching for a few years, and we can see the reaction on her face one someone gets a hit to the outfield, or an error is made. Another girl seems to lose all control once she walks one or two batters.

I imagine game experience helps develop this even further, but must an athlete have that mindset before they ever become a pitcher?

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This is definitely a learned skill and your lucky if she learned it fast, but beware as she plays more, its gets into girls heads. My DD used to totally fall apart when things got tough , or she had the tight umpire, or defense started making errors. It was rough. But as she's matured, her mental game is one of her strengths. We've focused on mental skills, and one is do your job and you can only control what you pitch. We emphasized in her mental training you cant control the weather, the umpire, the defense, field conditions, etc.