Mechanics repair

cnardone said:

Take out 'in the circle', and I'd say it is the hardest thing as a parent. Period. I don't have a problem watching them struggle. It is part of life and they need to learn to fight through things. But seeing them deflated and the lost confidence ,especially in something they were once good at, is hard.

On the flip side, seeing them come out the other side better and stronger have been some of my proudest parent moments.

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I've seen her struggle at the plate plenty of times. She can be a really great hitter, and can also slump like nobody's business. It's not fun to watch her strike out 5x in a tournament, and to see her nerves in the box. But this is just different. The weight of the game on their shoulders, I really don't know how they do it.

I couldn't see from the videos you posted (wrong angle) but here's something to check. When she gets to the top of the circle, and just over it, see if her arm turns slightly so that her elbow is facing more toward first base rather than down to the ground behind her. I have seen that with girls who have trouble keeping the hand close to the hip at release. I even had one young pitcher who is skinny as a rail, with no hips, doing that. When she would get to release it looked very similar to what your DD is doing.

We tried several things to correct it and re-learn the arm path. The one that finally worked was to have her stand next to a wall at a 45 degree angle, place the little finger side of her hand on the wall about shoulder high, then go around the circle and keep the side of the hand on the wall as long as she can, which will be right before the release/whip zone. I had that girl do 100 of those a night, every night, and she is dedicated enough that she did just that.

It took about a month, but the problem went away, and she started throwing harder and better. As I promised, it also made a difference in her ability to throw other pitches as well. She's progressed hugely since then.

So maybe try giving that a look with slow motion video. If the problem I described is there, try this wall drill to solve it. Good luck!

You know that developing a pitcher is a not a liner process, it's more like a sine curve. At these kid's ages its the highest of highs sometimes followed by the lowest of lows. You're doing everything you can to get her set up for success. Sending her to great instructors and being involved. It's so hard to see them not at their best. When we go to camps all I say to myself on the way there is "I just hope she shows her best". Same thing I say to myself during games. Someone once told me that baseball/softball is a greatest sport in that you can be a hero and be humbled almost at the same time. Keep up the good work!