L's journey

My DD pitched her first game Saturday night since May 20th. Against some team named 'Firecrackers' in a Modesto, CA 14u PGF tournament. Downside is she walked way too many batters, gave up 4 hits, and only lasted two innings. It was the first time she had ever pitched to the catcher she worked with so there will need to be an adjustment period.

She's 13 and in the next 3 to 9 months will have decide to whether she is a pitcher for travel, or one of those 'good enough' for high school pitchers that play elsewhere during the travel season.

She was missing low most of the time and has some light bruising on her hip, so the brush interference is mostly working.

She works almost every week with a FPF style pitching coach. She will see Rich Balswick about once a month between now and Memorial Day. She went to a Javasource clinic on August 11th/12th. Working on getting Rick Pauly to work with her on Feb 2nd.

She had fun, but was frustrated. Felt the umpire was squeezing the strike zone. It's been her weakness on pitching for over 3 years, adjusting when she gets squeezed a little bit. Parents of other lefty pitchers tell me some umpires don't adjust where they setup to see some of the strikes lefty's throw.

She has a lot of potential, but has to do it because she wants to. We have the talk at least every 6 months that I'll spend the money to get her the best pitching instruction I can, but it has to be because she wants it, not because her parents want it.

It's her journey and we are here to just enjoy the ride.

On her current team she is the P2 and I think if she wants it bad enough, L should be the P1 by the end of fall ball.

Been lurking on here since fall of 2010 and posting since early 2011, so she better at least be a decent high school quality pitcher

Getting brush is good, but there should never be any bruising. Contact should be with the fleshy part of the forearm not the elbow. Rich will help with this for sure. My DD also is a 14u pitcher in NorCal and we'll be in Modesto for the next few weekends.

It takes so much work to become an effective pitcher and have consistency. DD has been pitching since she was 8 and she never was a phenom but she worked hard, switched to a quality PC and now she's on the path. We had our first friendly this past weekend and DD went 10 innings, gave up 2 and had 12 strikeouts with 1 walk against PGF premier teams.

It's very early and you said it's been awhile, keep working hard. Spin, spot, then speed. Slow things down and focus on mechanics.

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According to the Firecrackers website, there are 4 different 14U Firecrackers teams in Nor Cal (that number may change depending on who is moving up, who isn't, and how current the site is). Try to find out which one it was (usually defined by the HC's name), and keep track for next time you face them. You will find that many orgs have multiple teams, and the quality of those teams may vary tremendously.

Don't put too much stock into her performance this one time. This is pretty much the least important time of year for travel ball, and there's time for her to sort herself out. If she wants to pitch, she needs to stay dedicated to doing the work to keep improving. She also needs to keep in mind that she's a little fish in a bigger pond, and some of the hitters she will be facing will be really damn good...and big.

At least four days a week she spends at least 15-20 minutes practicing spins from a short distance. Some guy who likes coffee said to spend a lot of time working on spins.

DD did not really get to pitch too much last spring and stopped practicing and lessons. HC's DD pitched all the time, to the point it was lutuscrise IMO. Even yesterday in 1st fall ball games it was silly.

Apparently HC told DD she would pitch more this fall.

She did pitch 3 innings yesterday so maybe she will be able to pitch a little bit this fall.

We'll see if she gets going again.

She started poorly and pitched better after each inning.

She would be fine if she practiced a little bit but doesn't want to do it if she does not get to pitch. She gets emberased and annoyed if she gets throw out there so she will work on it.

I think DD could be #1 P but she knows it will never happen.

Pitching is frustrating. Has highs and lows. She will have those "bad days" Just tell her that there are "no bad days" only learning lessons. My dd struggle right now is speed. The accuracy and movement is there, but speed is slow for my taste. Yea you can say "speed isn't everything" but in the game of FastPitch, speed has a factor.

She hadn’t pitched in games since May so I think you can’t tell anything by this one outing other than....if she’s willing to go again= A win.
Fall should be all about working so I like your approach .... check where she is mentally and pitching wise in the coming months.
I also agree with WM - there are no bad days. Always learning. But.... I will say some days are harder than others. Look for the positive and keep moving forward.
Go L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most kids quit right before the breakthrough that transforms them. Tell her to stick with it.

Thank you P! It was a combination of adrenaline and nerves, plus a lot of change ups that she feels she is 2 to 3 weeks away from being game ready. Good news is she has 3 JH games before the next tournament and her dad will be calling a lot of change-ups during those games once she has 2 strikes on a batter.

Just sent Doug some video of her pitching at practice tonight. Not perfect and she said she felt a couple things she needs to fix, but was working on staying relaxed and having fun tonight.

https://youtu.be/ii_MJnUNAJg