Hitting Off the Pitcher in 8U

[OregonDuck]

Our league uses a pitching machine at 8u. 5 Pitches and if you don't put the ball in play you're out. 5 runs or 3 outs ends the inning.

I like this route because I feel like it makes for a quicker game with more action which is more fun for the girls. Softball has to compete with all the other youth sports and softball is the one with the most waiting anyway. They need to know that this game can be more than watching a pitcher throw in the dirt until you get walked.

If you have a girl that can pitch well at 8u, have her play up. It will make her better to face better hitters anyway.

 

[Eric F]

If you have a girl that can pitch well at 8u, have her play up. It will make her better to face better hitters anyway.

What do you do with a first-year 8U who pitches decently against 8U hitters, from an 8U distance (30'), with an 8U ball (10")? There can be a VERY big difference in size, speed, and strength between a first-year 8U and a 2nd-year 10U (hell the difference just within 10U girls can be pretty shocking). Depending on when their birthdays are, there could be close to a 4-year age difference between those two players. With your plan, the choice is either not pitch at all in 8U, or be completely out-matched in 10U (which can be detrimental to development). Again, this is a reason why I believe in development of pitchers and hitters together with a hybrid player/coach pitch format.

 

[OregonDuck]

What do you do with a first-year 8U who pitches decently against 8U hitters, from an 8U distance (30'), with an 8U ball (10")? There can be a VERY big difference in size, speed, and strength between a first-year 8U and a 2nd-year 10U (hell the difference just within 10U girls can be pretty shocking). Depending on when their birthdays are, there could be close to a 4-year age difference between those two players. With your plan, the choice is either not pitch at all in 8U, or be completely out-matched in 10U (which can be detrimental to development). Again, this is a reason why I believe in development of pitchers and hitters together with a hybrid player/coach pitch format.

I forgot about ball size, that could be an issue. In our league most of the better 8u players play up a year early, but play on C or bronze level developmental 10u teams. It is true that some of those 10u players can be pretty big.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Thank goodness, we don't use a 10inch ball here. Girls actually throw better with a larger ball. They can certainly catch it better. And while we are discussing 8U, I wish parents would research what glove to buy and not pick that tiny pink thing.

 

[James Smith]

(I am going to jump in on one of the many hijacks of your OP )

DD played player pitch with machine backup in 8U. HC stated the players’ batting averages were much better off the machine then when they hit off the pitcher. He was going to tell the batters to not swing unless he told them too so they would get to the machine. I told him why I disagreed with that strategy and regardless what he did with the other players DD was going to swing at anything close from the pitcher.

In 8U it was hit or miss if the pitcher could get the ball to the plate, then hit or miss if they would throw any strikes. Heck in 10U it was hit or miss if some pitchers could throw any strikes. One organization in particular always had OK pitchers, so they knew what they were doing. It seemed like they just rolled them out.

So I agree it is doable having all player pitch but I think it would be hard to get all the Teams we play to provide pitchers some training.

DD pitched in 8U and walked a lot of batters, which made her work on it to get ready for 10U when there was no machine backup. So player pitch was good for her and some other players but some of the games were really long. A lot of balls were thrown so I am not sure if it helped anyone as a hitter. I know a lot of leagues do the backup different, I think that is because there is no good answer. I think 10U would have been more enjoyable with some sort of pitcher backup.

 

[Rocketech1]

Machines should be nowhere close to a field unless it's practice. Both my DD and DS in ASA and PONY baseball respectively starting at 8U using a combination of both kid pitch and coach pitch and has worked out well for these leagues and players. Once all star season starts end of spring and through the summer all tournaments are kid pitch anyways so it prepares them for more competitive level of play. But I realize that the sheer number of players and talent in SoCal is not the norm compared to most of the rest of the nation.

 

[NEF]

Thank goodness, we don't use a 10inch ball here. Girls actually throw better with a larger ball. They can certainly catch it better. And while we are discussing 8U, I wish parents would research what glove to buy and not pick that tiny pink thing.

Amy agree with almost everything you post, but disagree with the use of the smaller ball, seems to me girls that start with baseball tend to not shot putt or drop the elbow when throwing, I heard the theory and agree that a heavy ball contributes to the elbow drop seen in young softball players.