Another "Should DD change teams" thread

[jimginas]

YUP - itd NOT the speed at higher levels or well coached teams, even at lower levels, though everyone is impressed with speed.
(I used to ask my 12 year old girls to hit 70MPH baseballs in the batting cage... told the parents they would waste 2-3 tokens before the girls would stand close enough to have the courage to BEGIN to start to swing at balls..... after a while, they caught up to the speed and weren't phased by FAST 50-55MPH softball pitches that make the softballs look like grapefruits!) ONCE batters realize they can hit speed, the pitchers lose that advantage.
**** MY DD pitched 61 as a 16U 4 years ago...... VERY Good changeups, BUT NO OTHER BREAKING BALLS...... even in HS at Varsity, by 4th/5th inning, batters were catching up to her. (Catcher REFUSED to call changeups - just REFUSED! DROVE me nuts, cause MOST HS games can still be won mixing changeups w/ good location and fastballs.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I thought that I would update my OP.

First, I really appreciate everyones input! I did in fact answer my own questions and started pressing the issue. It was very helpful that since OP, the current team has played up to 16U in a couple of tourneys and although they did pretty well with about a 40% win ratio, we learned a LOT. We mostly learned about mental toughness and the lack of it in DD's current teammates and, sadly in the coaches. During the tourneys, DD pitched most innings and after the games told me that she didn't realize how much she didn't know.

We are currently setting up tryouts with 3 or 4 local ASA teams (local meaning within 1 hour from hometown), 2 of them will be this weekend, one should be during the week this week and one will be the following weekend.

Wish my DD luck!

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

Final update

Perhaps instead I should just shut up--because it is parents like you that make college scholarships available for so many other, less talented kids.

sluggers, it was this particular statement that got me fired up.

DD, Mom and I sat down on Monday night and listed the top 4 teams to try out for and their order of importance to DD and us. All teams have been around for minimum of 5 years and all have qualified for ASA Nationals in the last 2 years. All teams have a plan for getting kids to college (showcase tourneys, college coach connections, etc...)

On Tuesday night DD tried out for #2 who asked her to return on the 22nd for a final tryout. On Friday night she tried out for #3 who called an hour after the tryout to offer her a position asking her to decide by end of weekend. Saturday morning she tried out for #1 who offered her a position before tryouts were even over. #4 has tryouts on the 22nd also.

DD made her decision before we got out of the parking lot of #1 tryout that she wants to play for them. We called as soon as we got home to commit to the team.

New team is 95's and will be playing up to 16U this fall. in addition to 5 regular tourneys, there is 1 showcase tourney scheduled for the fall, mostly to get the team comfortable playing in that environment.