Moving from 11" to 12" ball

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

The hardest thing I'm seeing for DD is throwing her flip change. It's just harder for her to grip the ball.

 

[quincy]

A flip change is a preety persise pitch, added distance and ball size would make it hard for anyone in the short term. I would think anyways.

 

[grcsftbll]

My pitcher has mostly switched from flip change to horseshoe. That seems easier for her w/ the bigger ball. I will say we struggled more with hitting, like their timing was all messed up. I imagine that takes a little time to get used to.

 

[JAD]

How did your dds' adjustment from using an 11" ball to 12" ball go? Dd11 just finished her 10u all star season and is looking for a 12u TB team. Her catching/hitting instructor uses 12"s, so she's been working with them some. I'm just curious how long it takes them to get used to the difference and if we should be working on anything at home other than our usual drills.

Moving to a 12" ball and moving back to 40' is a big adjustment. DD could throw strikes in a week or two after the adjustment, but she got lit up that fall, worked on it over the winter, and was back to her normal self in the spring.

 

[quincy]

DD hit the ball OK, just didn't go anywhere for a while.

If I remember right she started hitting a lot of slow rollers which was perfect because she would be safe, then she started hitting hard grounder for a little while so she was out all the time. She eventually got back to herself.

 

[ANNASDAD]

Even while my DD was still playing 10U, for pitching lessons and back yard work we were already using a 12" ball and pitching from 40', for probably 5 or 6 weeks. Here's the kicker, she goes to a small private Christian school so she could play MS ball in the 6th grade. The day of MS tryouts, we were told that a week before, the MAC conference changed the rule that the pitching distance for MS was to be moved from 40' back to 43'. So basically she went from a 11" ball to a 12" ball and from 35' to 43' in one move! I think I was more worried than she was, she really handled it great and had a great season that year.

 

[quincy]

One day DD was pitching 10U, next day she was pitching 12U. I needed to run to Myers to buy an expensive junk 12" ball. She never missed a beat pitching.

She was doing long toss and pitching from 40' sometimes anyways. CU was missing from her arsenal for the first few games though.

 

[CoachChristine]

Thanks for the input. The hitting will be the biggest adjustment, then.


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[grcsftbll]

DD hit the ball OK, just didn't go anywhere for a while.

If I remember right she started hitting a lot of slow rollers which was perfect because she would be safe, then she started hitting hard grounder for a little while so she was out all the time. She eventually got back to herself.

This was how our girls did in our 12U tournaments this spring. They were connecting; we played a pretty decent 04 team (we're young 06) with a good pitcher. They shut us out, but we had zero strike outs that game. We'd hit the ball to pitcher, to SS, to 1B. Connecting but all the other team had to do was make routine plays to get us out. It's fun to watch our power hitters come up and hit an easy grounder to 2B every time. lol

 

[jmdant]

We had no big adjustment with hitting. My DD who is a catcher and on the really small side struggled a couple of weeks getting the grip correct on her throws to second. She said it just didn't feel right. After a few practices it came around and was throwing without a problem. First few i think the first baseman was even ducking not knowing where it would wind up!