Not sure what my question is. Maybe I'm just venting.
My dd is 11u. She was the dominant/best pitcher in the rec season in our whole 12u league and in 4 total tournaments on our 12u travel ball team (open class, small hometown travel ball team)- small tournaments. We get to allstar season and a 12 year old in the league that was about the same speed-wise as my daughter but much wilder suddenly emerged to be the main allstar pitcher... pitching no hitters and perfect games. And it all happened overnight & really caught us off guard. She either practiced or fixed something magically overnight. Seriously.
In the allstar season so far, my daughter is hitting and playing 3rd base like a boss anyway though. Superstar play all-around otherwise, plus they've given her 2 (out of 7) of the games to pitch, so I AM happy for the main pitcher- and not upset. I am.
But since it has happened- (not sure if this caused it or not- not saying that it did), I'm pretty sure that my dd's pitching is a little off now. Not sure if it affected her confidence or just a consequence since she's pitching much less lately (she used to pitch 18 innings all week long- then like 18 innings in a tournament on the weekend), but in any of the games she's pitched lately she does seem to be giving up a few more hits than usual, plus maybe an extra walk or 2 more than usual.
Do you think her pitching could have suffered from this - at least a little? Or am I imagining it?
Here was the straw that broke the camel's back yesterday and is making me crazy. A class A travel team invited her to 'guest pitch' yesterday. She was really excited & she hadn't pitched more than 1 or 2 games the last week, so we were all for it. We've never played for an A team- doubtful we've ever seen more than one or 2 A teams in the small tournaments we've played in so far. The team she pitched for yesterday started her against a nationally ranked team. And wow- we got creamed. She's never given up a home run ever in her life ever. Someone hit one out of the park against her yesterday. She only walked one. On the home run- the coach told her to throw low and she hit her spot perfectly where he told her, and the girl drove it out anyway.
The coaches told us she was hitting all of her spots in both games she played yesterday- the other team just kept hitting her pitches over & over. And over & over. It was the most painful thing ever. I'm so worried this will affect her even more. And i'm sure it was a really bad decision on our part. We really thought it would help and not hurt her though. The 2nd game they started the only other pitcher that they have and she gave up 2 runs and then put my dd in for the rest of the game (2 innings I think?) and she didn't give up anymore runs, and did get a little more excited after that one. She got a few strikeouts- one on 3 drop balls in a row & one or 2 on some beautiful changeups... lol. and i think that brought up her mood a little and she really enjoyed finally having some coaching calling her pitches for once (she has had 0 experience up until now- no one calls pitches for her at all otherwise- rec, allstars, or our regular town travel team). You know? She hit her spots yesterday beautifully. She used changeups and drop with some success in the 2nd game. She tried some curve balls but she needs a little more practice on those. The travel team didn't call us today to ask for her help again today in their bracket play. It hurts. I'll admit it.
I guess chalk it up to a learning experience? And redouble our efforts on getting better- especially speedwise I would guess? I am happy to accept that perspective.
But we have more allstar games this week. We won our district championship and this week is sectionals. Do I have to worry that this is going to affect her play this week- especially confidence wise? i really, really seriously hope & pray that the slaughter we put her through on Saturday doesn't devastate her forever. And she still wants to play softball anymore at all. Or am I worrying too much for nothing? This softball sport is tough, tough business.
My dd is 11u. She was the dominant/best pitcher in the rec season in our whole 12u league and in 4 total tournaments on our 12u travel ball team (open class, small hometown travel ball team)- small tournaments. We get to allstar season and a 12 year old in the league that was about the same speed-wise as my daughter but much wilder suddenly emerged to be the main allstar pitcher... pitching no hitters and perfect games. And it all happened overnight & really caught us off guard. She either practiced or fixed something magically overnight. Seriously.
In the allstar season so far, my daughter is hitting and playing 3rd base like a boss anyway though. Superstar play all-around otherwise, plus they've given her 2 (out of 7) of the games to pitch, so I AM happy for the main pitcher- and not upset. I am.
But since it has happened- (not sure if this caused it or not- not saying that it did), I'm pretty sure that my dd's pitching is a little off now. Not sure if it affected her confidence or just a consequence since she's pitching much less lately (she used to pitch 18 innings all week long- then like 18 innings in a tournament on the weekend), but in any of the games she's pitched lately she does seem to be giving up a few more hits than usual, plus maybe an extra walk or 2 more than usual.
Do you think her pitching could have suffered from this - at least a little? Or am I imagining it?
Here was the straw that broke the camel's back yesterday and is making me crazy. A class A travel team invited her to 'guest pitch' yesterday. She was really excited & she hadn't pitched more than 1 or 2 games the last week, so we were all for it. We've never played for an A team- doubtful we've ever seen more than one or 2 A teams in the small tournaments we've played in so far. The team she pitched for yesterday started her against a nationally ranked team. And wow- we got creamed. She's never given up a home run ever in her life ever. Someone hit one out of the park against her yesterday. She only walked one. On the home run- the coach told her to throw low and she hit her spot perfectly where he told her, and the girl drove it out anyway.
The coaches told us she was hitting all of her spots in both games she played yesterday- the other team just kept hitting her pitches over & over. And over & over. It was the most painful thing ever. I'm so worried this will affect her even more. And i'm sure it was a really bad decision on our part. We really thought it would help and not hurt her though. The 2nd game they started the only other pitcher that they have and she gave up 2 runs and then put my dd in for the rest of the game (2 innings I think?) and she didn't give up anymore runs, and did get a little more excited after that one. She got a few strikeouts- one on 3 drop balls in a row & one or 2 on some beautiful changeups... lol. and i think that brought up her mood a little and she really enjoyed finally having some coaching calling her pitches for once (she has had 0 experience up until now- no one calls pitches for her at all otherwise- rec, allstars, or our regular town travel team). You know? She hit her spots yesterday beautifully. She used changeups and drop with some success in the 2nd game. She tried some curve balls but she needs a little more practice on those. The travel team didn't call us today to ask for her help again today in their bracket play. It hurts. I'll admit it.
I guess chalk it up to a learning experience? And redouble our efforts on getting better- especially speedwise I would guess? I am happy to accept that perspective.
But we have more allstar games this week. We won our district championship and this week is sectionals. Do I have to worry that this is going to affect her play this week- especially confidence wise? i really, really seriously hope & pray that the slaughter we put her through on Saturday doesn't devastate her forever. And she still wants to play softball anymore at all. Or am I worrying too much for nothing? This softball sport is tough, tough business.