Am I wrong? Safety concern

[8utbmom]

My dds team is a first year 12u travel team made up of mostly 11 years olds with a few 12 yr olds and 10 yr olds. They moved up early in the fall and had a successful season. The coaches are very excited about the talent on our team. Well not long ago, our coaches decide that we need to scrimmage the 14 u team within the org which is made up mostly of 13 year olds, 3 14 yr olds (that play high school varsity sb) and 1 12 yr old. We weren't told anything about this team, not that there were high school girls, not that the pitcher pitches 60 mph...just that they were 14u. Show up scrimmage day and they have hired an ump and everyone in uniform, and there were a bunch of parents there...everyone eager to see this matchup and cheering like it was the damn world series. The 14 u team had some HUGE girls...one at least 225, all wearing metal cleats, all swinging composite bats. And then there were our girls, half haven't even started puberty yet, barely 100 pounds and most not even 5ft tall, wearing their plastic cleats, on the field with these girls. It wasnt a shut out but I'm sure you can guess how these games ended up.

Well, there was talk of another game, so I step up and tell the coach how we felt it was unsafe to play another one because those girls were pounding the ball and sliding into our girls with their metal cleats and our team was very intimidated, and I just didnt see the point. Of course that wasn't received well. Coach made a bunch of excuses of why he felt it was okay and what our girls learned from it. Im not convinced and I think it's unsafe to do it again. What is your opinion?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Stick to your guns. You are right.

 

[James Smith]

There really isn't that big an age difference but I do not know why you would play a Team again that is just going to beat up on you.

 

[Eric F]

Stick to your guns. You are right.

This! ^^^^^

 

[mogsoftball]

We scrimmaged out 13u team, Their pitcher pitched form 43' ours from 40'. They are allowed to wear spikes we are still in rubber cleats. we lost but held our own, we had trouble hitting their pitcher, but our pitcher and defense did well and kept them from running up the score.

I think it gives our girls a taste of what higher level 12u teams will be like.

As for the composite bats, all our girls swing composites as well the older girls have the size and strength advantage on all but a couple of our girls.

 

[Bill S]

When my Dd's teams have done mixed age group scrimmages like you describe the teams have swapped pitchers so (per your example) the 14U pitchers are up against 14u batters and likewise for 12u. That keeps the games closer, but doesn't address the size and strength differential. It was a surprise to us how huge some of the 14u players were when my daughters moved up.

 

[FP26]

I agree with you completely. There is too much of a difference between those ages. As the father of a pitcher, I would be concerned about having my 11 year old DD pitch against much bigger 14 year old girls. By the time they get to high school, I don't think the physical differences are as extreme. Therefore I am ok with a freshman pitching against seniors.

 

[canyonjoe]

I understand why your coach wanted to play up but can't figure out why the 14U team would want to play your team.

 

[riseball]

Although the age difference between 12U and 14U is minimal, the difference in girls can be pretty significant. This 14U teams sounds like some of the teams that have played up and held their own against my 18u team. Quite frankly they probably have no business playing 14U much less scrimmaging a 12U team. Aside from the safety issue you have to ask what value this experience provides either team.

 

[WinThemAll]

When my Dd's teams have done mixed age group scrimmages like you describe the teams have swapped pitchers so (per your example) the 14U pitchers are up against 14u batters and likewise for 12u. That keeps the games closer, but doesn't address the size and strength differential. It was a surprise to us how huge some of the 14u players were when my daughters moved up.

This is what we usually did.