8U REC league rules

[Don]

Our rec league currently have 8U girls play slow pitch, they have a choice of fast or slow at 10U, and fast exclusively from 12U up. For the last several years number of 10 slow teams has dropped and the number of 10U fast teams has risen, so now most of the girls go from 8U slow to 10u fast. (This year we have (27) 8U slow teams, (7) 10 slow teams, and (25) 10 fast teams)

So, I am working on a proposal to add 8U fast pitch for next season. We've never had 8U fast, so what I need to know is what rules do most 8U rec leagues use? By this I mean what changes to the standard rules do most 8U rec leagues follow?

For example, our 10F teams are kid pitched, they aren't allowed to steal home, they don't use the dropped third strike or the infield fly, 5 runs per inning max. What should I suggest we change for 8U fast?

We generally follow the USSSA rules, but are unaffiliated with anything like Little League and no one in the league has any experience with fast pitch at the 8U level.

Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.

Don

 

[quincy]

Some thoughts:

As far as I can tell everyone treats 8U pitching differently.

Our League rules are: Player pitch, if the batter is walked the batter loses 1 strike then a pitching machine is used to finish the at bat.

Downside: Some pitchers cannot throw a strike, or so few strikes, that the batters just wait to be walked. Some games take forever with most the time spent waiting for all the batters to be walked.

Other Rule A: All player pitch

Downside: Some pitchers cannot throw a strike, or so few strikes, that the batters just wait to be walked. There is no way this would work in our Rec. League.

Other Rule B: All coach/ machine pitch

Downside: You are prohibiting the development of pitchers and just pushing it off until 10U. 10U pitching will probably be poor.

Other Rule C: Combination of player and coach/machine pitch. No walks still but if a Team walks 3 batters in an inning their team is done pitching for that inning, all coach/ machine pitch rest of inning. Player pitches only the 1st 2 innings then coach/ machine pitch rest of the game.

Downside: You are prohibiting the development of pitchers and just pushing it off until 10U. 10U pitching will probably be poor. Not a lot of player pitch innings to go around.


I like other Rule C but have never actaully played with these rules.

 

[Richards]

We use the same rules as far as 5 runs in and inning, no dropped 3rd strike, no infield fly rule and no stealing home. The adjustment we have made with developing pitchers is that once ball 4 is pitched we use a coach to pitch to the batter. Keeping the integrity of the game without the "in the way" pitching machine.

The OPPOSING coach gets a chance to throw strikes to the hitter once 4 balls are thrown. This has taken the bat off the players shoulders to an extent. If the coach can throw strikes the kids get to swing the bat......and if they won't swing then they strike out and move on. If the Coach throws 2 more balls the batter walks. Works pretty good for us............not to mention it puts pressure on the opposing coach to throw strikes to the players.

 

[SD DAD]

we use the same as most. No dropped 3rd strike, no infield fly rule and cold home plate. One base per pitch. 1/2 of season is coach pitch, second half we take the coach pitch out and let the girls go at it. with coach pitch, we do not do opposing coach but players own coach, that way you do not have coaches walk girls on purpose because they are big hitters, sounds stupid but seen it done before. coach assumes the count and has 4 pitches total to get the girl on base or out. no walks!
A big help for us was having a pitching coach and catching coach give 1/2 hour lessons to girls once a week. They would go from 5pm - 8pm. It will get girls interested in pitching and only make your league and it's players better!! We were fortunate to have volunteers come in and give the lessons so there was no out of pocket expense for the league.

 

[rachelsdad]

We played once the 4th ball was pitched one of the batters' coaches assumed the strike count. If the batter had 1 strike then the coach got 2 pitches, 2 strikes 1 pitch. No infield fly, stealing home, 5 runs etc... Worked great the league has multiple national titles.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I would like to see teams hold pitching clinics weekly and teach these young ladies correct pitching form. That would give each team a chance to develop pitchers and would eventually, help your HS team.

When little girls have attempted to pitch a year or two, without an instructor, it makes it very difficult to correct any bad habits.

 

[SoCalDad]

I have always liked this set of rules for 8U.

First half of the season player pitch to 4 balls, coach then gets 2 pitches (no extra for foul balls), no walks. Player has to hit or strikes-out. Builds pitcher, batter and defensive development. Games go by quickly enough. Usually get in 4 innings in 1.5 hrs. Second half of season, player pitches until bases loaded, then coach get 2 pitches. Further builds pitcher development and also prevents walk fests. Over the years we have tried using pitching machines in place of coach but didn't see the same level of batter development as we did when batters have to adapt to pitches being all over the zone (yes, even coaches can't throw a strike). Our run limit was 4 to encourage the games to go by quicker.

 

[LAdad]

We played once the 4th ball was pitched one of the batters' coaches assumed the strike count. If the batter had 1 strike then the coach got 2 pitches, 2 strikes 1 pitch. No infield fly, stealing home, 5 runs etc... Worked great the league has multiple national titles.

Same for us. To be clear, that would be the batter's coach, and a pitch by the coach was by definition a strike, even if he threw it over her head. (Also, the coach had to pitch from the rubber, not soft-toss from 10ft or so.)

For 8U we used 4 outfielders (10 total in the field) and allowed a coach in the outfield (to give advice and keep the outfielders engaged).

 

[MsDinosaur]

When my DD was in rec, they weren't allowed to steal home, could only steal one base per pitch, did not have dropped third strike or infield fly, had a 5 (or was it 6?) run per inning max and had four outfielders. A girl pitched until the fourth ball at which point the batter's coach came in to pitch however many remaining strikes the batter was entitled to receive. Every pitch the coach threw counted as a strike, whether it was over her head or in the dirt. It wasn't perfect. A lot of girls simply waited for their coach (it was rare that a girl threw a strikeout, though not unheard of), but at least 1) the pitchers got to pitch, 2) the batters did have to swing at some point and 3) fielders got to field and make plays rather than standing around through a walk-fest. :-D