Make it move

[Hillhouse]

It really clicked for her when the pitching instructor she sees explained that the ball being hit can be good as long as she dictated how it was hit. High level example being creating a weak grounder (or pop fly) that becomes an out in one pitch versus striking a batter out in say five pitches.
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That's great your PC said that.

Personally, I think some of the best games I've pitched was having 1 or 2 strikeouts but still winning 1-0 or 2-0. For sure, I've had "perfect games" where everything is working and I strike out 16 or something. But a real measure of a "pitcher" is how they do without their best stuff. We can get as hung up on strikeouts as we all want but at the end of the day it's 21 outs to win the game, regardless of 21 strikeouts, 21 pop ups, 21 gounders, or 21 times they batted out of order. 21 outs is the goal. Coaches need to reinforce this mentality so a kid doesn't think only having 8 K's in a game is bad. I ALWAYS counted my outs every game, each inning remind myself how many I had to go for the end. 21, 18, 15, 12, etc. Really and truly "counting outs" really helps someone focus on the one pitch at a time strategy.

 

[HunterMO]

That's great your PC said that.

Personally, I think some of the best games I've pitched was having 1 or 2 strikeouts but still winning 1-0 or 2-0. For sure, I've had "perfect games" where everything is working and I strike out 16 or something. But a real measure of a "pitcher" is how they do without their best stuff. We can get as hung up on strikeouts as we all want but at the end of the day it's 21 outs to win the game, regardless of 21 strikeouts, 21 pop ups, 21 gounders, or 21 times they batted out of order. 21 outs is the goal. Coaches need to reinforce this mentality so a kid doesn't think only having 8 K's in a game is bad. I ALWAYS counted my outs every game, each inning remind myself how many I had to go for the end. 21, 18, 15, 12, etc. Really and truly "counting outs" really helps someone focus on the one pitch at a time strategy.

That makes total sense and will be something I’ll work on with her coming into next season. I think that also makes the perceived mountain of work seem not so heavy either. I’d say the volume of her outs come from weak contact versus outright strikeouts. But thinking of it this way will help her feel more comfortable about that.


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[sluggers]

I ALWAYS counted my outs every game, each inning remind myself how many I had to go for the end. 21, 18, 15, 12, etc. Really and truly "counting outs" really helps someone focus on the one pitch at a time strategy.

Great advice.

 

[Orange Socks]

I ALWAYS counted my outs every game, each inning remind myself how many I had to go for the end. 21, 18, 15, 12, etc. Really and truly "counting outs" really helps someone focus on the one pitch at a time strategy.

As a parent, I started doing this during HS games. For must of the years prior DD played timed games so I never knew how many outs we were working with. When DD's team started playing bigger better tourneys with 7 inning games, I would do it then too. It is useful for offensive and defensive strategy, planning and mental stability.