is anyone watching LLSWS?

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May 6, 2015
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might be my conspiracy oriented mind here, but do you think Ll and/or ESPN is goosing the numbers, or deliberately using miscalibrated gun (more likely), in order to promote LLSWS as the highest form of 12u softball. Is there a way to verify via the video?

btw, not disparaging these teams, all very good to get to this level, but honestly watching did not see anything I have not seen at B and C level travel tournaments (DD is 12u going into her fourth year of TB).
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
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Even if these girls were all PGF Premier teams I wouldn’t believe all of the speeds. Only a small handful of 12U players can top 60 and LL wants us to think ALL of their pitchers can do it? I know most of the teams that make it this far are composed of mid-level travel players, but it’s still rec ball.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
might be my conspiracy oriented mind here, but do you think Ll and/or ESPN is goosing the numbers, or deliberately using miscalibrated gun (more likely), in order to promote LLSWS as the highest form of 12u softball. Is there a way to verify via the video?

Yes and no. Yes because their MLB speed are generally correct and match up with MLB official stuff and it is pretty consistent how far they are off in LLWS. On the boys side if they can get to a certain speed they can 'compare it to a 100mph' MLB pitch which makes a good talking point.

No because I don't think they get anything out of it - casual fans have no idea how fast they are meant to be throwing and softball fans can see it isn't right. It may also be that the equipment they use doesn't adjust for shorter pitching distances well or isn't easy to adjust for the distances.

That said - I would have taken any of those pitchers last night for my team. They were great - and it isn't easy throwing in front of a crowd on TV probably for the first time.

btw, not disparaging these teams, all very good to get to this level, but honestly watching did not see anything I have not seen at B and C level travel tournaments (DD is 12u going into her fourth year of TB).

Some years I would agree with you - in general a lot of higher B/lower A teams. However this year, these teams are definitely reasonable A level teams. Several of the players were at PGF's on some of the stronger teams. Also I know the team in this division that didn't make it out of Florida and they are absolutely a solid A team. TV angles distort a lot of what you see and it always looks faster in person.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
TV angles distort a lot of what you see and it always looks faster in person.
That and most of us (or at least me..) have most of our "tv ball watching" experiences either through WCWS, for softball, where the girls are typically throwing 65 or even moreso, baseball where the ball is moving 90+ mph. What you see on tv is velocity, your eye doesn't catch reaction time.

I typically say to watch a hitter, they will tell you how fast a kid is throwing. However in this case I don't know how good the hitters are so it is difficult to gauge.
 
Jun 4, 2019
106
18
Its still impressive to me they are throwing those speeds anyhow. We have the record button pushed on our dvr so we don't miss a thing.
 
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
does anyone else find the gun numbers they are posting a little too good to be true, 12 yo pitchers all throwing 60+ consistently?
I saw the pitcher from Oregon briefly and the speed was showing 59. It didn’t look like she was working that hard or throwing that fast. My guess is 53-56 MPH.
Our best 13/14yr olds throw high 50’s low 60’s consistently.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
If only there was some mathematical way to figure this out ... 🤔 ;)
might be my conspiracy oriented mind here, but do you think Ll and/or ESPN is goosing the numbers, or deliberately using miscalibrated gun (more likely), in order to promote LLSWS as the highest form of 12u softball. Is there a way to verify via the video?

40 feet (or correct distance from pitcher’s plate to home plate) divided by the time from pitcher’s release to the catcher’s catch = speed in feet per second.

One foot per second = approximately .682 miles per hour.

Multiply the speed in fps by .681 to convert to mph.

Note this is still approximate since the pitcher does not actually release from 40 feet and the catcher does not actually catch the ball at 40 feet from the release.
 

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