Defensive Errors Effecting Pitcher Mentally & Mechanics

[joemcq51]

My DD is two years older than yours. As a favor this fall, she throws for a local coach in his 13-17 yoa rec league. She knew going in what it would be like during those games. We said, it would at the very least, help her with conditioning. They do not play timed games, they play a full 7 innings. It is just as you described. The only outs made are strike outs or groundouts to pitcher. Seriously, she must be averaging 18-20 k's per game. Some innings she has to get 4 or 5 outs because of drop third strike. She hasn't really gotten to frustrated with her team. We talked early and said that some of these girls probably never felt what it was like to win a game before. Probably have never even seen a close game. She is giving 12 other girls the chance to be competitive and even win games. When she sees her teammates smile after a game, she knows she did the right thing. I had never seen her in such a leadership role, as I do now. When they make mistakes, suddenly they are hard on themselves, due to impact on game. She has had to go over and put arms around players in dugout or give them the don't worry about the past speech. It is really cool to watch. They don't win every game, but they are in it. Personally I think she made a good choice to play and has grown as a player. Maybe not as a pitcher, but as a leader and teammate.