DD has decent locations, but everyone hits

[bjenkins24]

My daughter is first year 10u. We practice a lot. She puts in a lot of time, and she has progressed a ton. She's throwing strikes about 70-75% of her pitches. Right now she hits her spots dead on about 40% of the time, but she misses by just a bit if she does miss. We're definitely still working on all this, but she is tiny. I mean tiny. Smallest on her team and maybe smallest in the league. Fastest I clocked her at is 36, one girl in her league I have her clocked at 49.

This is rec, I'm HC. Our no. 1 pitcher isn't my daughter and she's throwing about 42. My daughter has had one walk in like the last 9 innings but something like 20+ hits against her in the same time. Honestly our lack of fielding is a decent part of that, but still it seems like every time I have her throw anything other than a changeup they hit it.

I think she probably is top 3 in how accurate she is in hitting her spots in the league. But she's probably one of the worst pitchers in the league with runs scored against her.

I figure we start out in the weight room through the summer hopefully get her a few MPH. Most of the reason I'm writing this is to just crowdsource some thoughts on how I should call her pitches. Do I intentionally have her throw out of the zone in hopes they'll reach for it? I'm not doing that at all. But I do have her hitting the corners, which again she hits about 40% of the time right on, but if it's not right on it's usually still a strike.

I have her throwing a lot of changeups which she kills. They reach for them almost every time. But if I throw them three in a row, they get a read on it and hit it. But the second I go back to the fastball, boom a hit. Our other pitcher throws fewer strikes (not on purpose), but when she does throw a strike they are almost all meatballs down the center and they barely hit, I'm assuming because of the speed difference.

My daughter also has a "riseball" it doesn't rise or anything I think because it's just not going fast enough and doesn't have far enough to travel, but it has some nasty spin on it. She does pretty well with that and most of the time the hits aren't great, but they still hit it and our infield is just not bringing it.

Anyways long post I know, I just feel bad because she works so hard and I feel like I'm failing her here a bit with calling the pitches, and also I have this existential worry that I'm dooming her to fail in something because she's probably always going to be small (if I'm looking at her parents).

Any advice is appreciated! She has a great IR pitching coach and we've talked about this before, but just figured I'd crowdsource a bit and see if anyone had any more suggestions or have had success in situations like this before.

 

[Towny9]

It’s 10U. If she is throwing strikes and having fun I wouldn’t worry about it. Chances are a lot of the balls in most will turn into outs as the defense gets better. At 36 mph she is right at the sweet spot of bat speed for most 10U hitters. Couple that with a lot of strikes and balls are going to be out in play. The plate is only so big and at 36 mph, she won’t be able to spot it well enough for them to miss it. Keep it fun and if she eventually picks up speed or size, she will be ready to get folks out.

 

[mmeece]

My daughter is first year 10u. We practice a lot. She puts in a lot of time, and she has progressed a ton. She's throwing strikes about 70-75% of her pitches. Right now she hits her spots dead on about 40% of the time, but she misses by just a bit if she does miss. We're definitely still working on all this, but she is tiny. I mean tiny. Smallest on her team and maybe smallest in the league. Fastest I clocked her at is 36, one girl in her league I have her clocked at 49.

This is rec, I'm HC. Our no. 1 pitcher isn't my daughter and she's throwing about 42. My daughter has had one walk in like the last 9 innings but something like 20+ hits against her in the same time. Honestly our lack of fielding is a decent part of that, but still it seems like every time I have her throw anything other than a changeup they hit it.

I think she probably is top 3 in how accurate she is in hitting her spots in the league. But she's probably one of the worst pitchers in the league with runs scored against her.

I figure we start out in the weight room through the summer hopefully get her a few MPH. Most of the reason I'm writing this is to just crowdsource some thoughts on how I should call her pitches. Do I intentionally have her throw out of the zone in hopes they'll reach for it? I'm not doing that at all. But I do have her hitting the corners, which again she hits about 40% of the time right on, but if it's not right on it's usually still a strike.

I have her throwing a lot of changeups which she kills. They reach for them almost every time. But if I throw them three in a row, they get a read on it and hit it. But the second I go back to the fastball, boom a hit. Our other pitcher throws fewer strikes (not on purpose), but when she does throw a strike they are almost all meatballs down the center and they barely hit, I'm assuming because of the speed difference.

My daughter also has a "riseball" it doesn't rise or anything I think because it's just not going fast enough and doesn't have far enough to travel, but it has some nasty spin on it. She does pretty well with that and most of the time the hits aren't great, but they still hit it and our infield is just not bringing it.

Anyways long post I know, I just feel bad because she works so hard and I feel like I'm failing her here a bit with calling the pitches, and also I have this existential worry that I'm dooming her to fail in something because she's probably always going to be small (if I'm looking at her parents).

Any advice is appreciated! She has a great IR pitching coach and we've talked about this before, but just figured I'd crowdsource a bit and see if anyone had any more suggestions or have had success in situations like this before.

If she's throwing strikes at this age then she's on the right track. However, she may be throwing too many strikes. I'd try to to work with she and your catcher on getting ahead in the zone and then moving off of the corners and seeing if you can get swings out of the strike zone.My dd pitching coach used to say "strikes are a last resort"

 

[chinamigarden]

Believe it or not. There is such a thing as throwing too many strikes. She needs to nibble the edges more 60-65% strikes always seemed to be my dds sweet spot. And that includes swinging strikes at balls out of the zone.

When she was 10u at 0-2 she would get anxious for the K so she would focus on throwing it over the plate to make sure it was a strike. And bang that was a hit.

Move the ball up and down, in and out. Avoid the plate and try to hit the black with most of the ball in the river.

 

[Dandan111]

We had a girl throw wild as can be. She pitched fast and wild. Nobody could hit her. They either got walked or out. Lots of walks. Drove everyone crazy watching. It was terrible. Her mom would yell directions to her. Anyway , I’d rather watch a game with kids hitting in rec.ball.
The wild girl finally got things under control. She’s still fast and wild and knows how to either throw junk or strikes. She’s know a sophomore in HS and doing a good job at her school. Still makes me crazy to watch her but everyone has their own style.
*coaches always want the speed.

 

[tomorrow]

I would suggest for a 10u rec trying to set up your defense based on pitch location. Basically put your best fielders at 1st , 2nd and right field (playing really close in) and pitch only to the outside of the plate.

 

[MikeP]

My opinion, work on less strikes as mentioned. Your dd sounds exactly like mine did at 9 & 10. Average speed but super consistent. She was very successful because we worked at lessons relentlessly on hitting spots. There was always the occasional hard hit ball, including a home run in her second start that is still orbiting the earth, but the majority of the time it was pop ups and weak grounders with a few strike outs. She had an ok change up and pretty good drop but relied on hitting spots.

 

[Strike2]

You've got a "good" problem on your hands. Go easy with the weights for a 10U, throw fewer strikes, work on your defense, and be patient. This will probably work out better in the long run than the hard throwing 10U Rec pitcher who can't get anyone out as a 14U because she can only throw a fastball.

 

[radness]

It's important to remember that while there is still coach pitch in 10u ages.
There are other teams pitchers pitch for the team. And pitchers who are already trying to locate pitches in 10U. With change ups mixed in.

That and there are batters who are just barely figuring out how to swing, while there are other batters who already have been working on their own hitting and some have hitting lessons.

Basically,
Softball is not an age level
it is Talent levels.
Pay attention to where your daughter is at and
WORK HER PLAN!

Look for balance of some strikeouts, some hits and an occasional walk.
Within a talent level that includes success and experiencing other competitive players.

 

[Orange Socks]

The toughest pitchers to hit against are the ones who are "effectively wild."