A Tale of Two Teams

[whiporee]

That's what i was trying to say -- that she should find individual successes even if the team isn't winning. That's hard to keep track of when the team is struggling.

 

[_MIA_]

That's what i was trying to say -- that she should find individual successes even if the team isn't winning. That's hard to keep track of when the team is struggling.

I know..but it is more than just pitchers ( I realize you were speaking to this specific case..I was just generalizing)..it is everybody on the field. Individual success can be praised/embraced while keeping in mind that the team success is the ultimate goal.

 

[HunterMO]

We're in a somewhat similar boat in regards to being on a team that isn't necessarily challenging DD the way we'd like. Multiple reasons for this. But the big two are puberty and her school ball season (yes - we are one of the few areas that has great school ball). Right now, she could compete at a 14u C/B level but we made our commitment to our current 12u C team last Fall. We had no idea DD would be at this point when we made the commitment last year.

The good is that it's a great group of girls. DD gets TONS of circle time and AB's. Reps reps reps. Her pitching still isn't as consistent as I feel it needs to be for 14u B, so this Summer will let her continue to work on it. The bad is that our current team (without our top 4-5) is not very competitive. The coach didn't get some of the girls he had planned on and we badly lack in fielding/hitting outside our top 4-5 girls. DD is even hesitant to throw at a few of the girls full steam. And this keeps us from competing in 12u B/14u C level tournaments.

DD had a great Jr High (14u) season for hitting, but it was against a mixture of bad to good pitchers. Over 34 PA's she had a 1.468 OPS but a 9.643 ERA over 4.2 innings pitched. She had one REALLY bad inning and was pulled. (The previous 3 games her ERA was .000 (1-inning), 2.667 (2-innings), 3.75 (1-inning)). She would have had more innings but the team kept run ruling the lesser teams. When she was moved up to the A-squad with 10 PA's she had a 1.1 OPS but didn't pitch.

What this two month sample size told me was that with the B-squad she wasn't being as challenged (lesser pitching quality), but was when she started seeing faster/more accurate pitchers with the A-squad (14u B players). Telling me she was definitely ready for 14u C/B ball at least for hitting/fielding. She'd be fine pitching 14u C, but would likely get hit around pretty good at 14u B. Which would be okay, but if we can take one more year to work on it while finding 14u C/B fill in....that would be fine. And this allows us to fulfill our commitment to the 12u team.

Yes, I'd like for her to be playing 14u C/B full time this year. That would be the most ideal. But I'm also a person who feels honoring commitments is important. If DD were to leave it would put the head coach in a real tough spot. She has good friends on the team and the team as a whole is fun and always stays positive. Just not many have her drive and only three girls treat softball as a priority like she does.

I guess my long post is to provide another's experience in a similar situation. Albeit not exactly the same. My DD is overall ready to move up, but we're going to find the positives in the current situation and find ways to make sure she continues developing. While finding fill in opportunities aren't always easy.....having a pitcher that is even semi-consistent at least opens the door a little more in that regard.

 

[FP26]

Have you talked to her about it? Perhaps there is another factor involved that is making B ball more of a challenge than it should be. Clash with one of the coaches... Doesn't get along with teammates... Could be a number of things. When we played 14u we were blessed to have one of the best athletes in the area on our team. Probably the fastest 14 year old girl I have ever meet. For some reason she really struggled with travel ball. After a few tournaments I had a bit of a heart to heart with her. She loved playing softball, but did not enjoy travel ball at all. Being out all day on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday was just too big of a commitment for her. Simply put, she wasn't into it. Not saying that is the case, but it could be something completely unrelated to the game itself.

 

[Gags]

For the OP - how was the level of competition in school ball vs TB? Those are great #'s, but was it coming off pitchers who are still struggling finding the strike zone? My oldest is playing JV - the demographics for most schools in our division doesn't really lend itself to strong softball programs. It's great to see a lot of girls trying the sport for the first time, but the level of play can be hard to watch.

 

[Westwind]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Thought I’d class this place up a little.

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

For the OP - how was the level of competition in school ball vs TB? Those are great #'s, but was it coming off pitchers who are still struggling finding the strike zone? My oldest is playing JV - the demographics for most schools in our division doesn't really lend itself to strong softball programs. It's great to see a lot of girls trying the sport for the first time, but the level of play can be hard to watch.

I have nothing to add to the discussion but to agree with what you said above.

My daughter just turned twelve, less than two weeks ago. Her pitching coach coaches the local h.s. team. She told me between JV and Varsity they have seven pitchers. My daughter is better than than 3.5 of them

A girl in the neighborhood catches for the JV team. DD and her practice together in the neighborhood here and there when schedules allow. Catcher girl has told her as a sixth grader she is a better pitcher than Amy girl on her JV team.