No windmill for recreation softball?

[MsDinosaur]

This is from a local rec league near me (9-10 age group).

PITCHING (Note that this is a modified fast-pitch league this spring. Rules have been modified to
encourage accuracy in pitching, more hitting and action in the field.)

No attempt to deceive the batter in any manner shall be allowed; this includes the intentional
delivery of pitches at different speeds or with different arcs by the same pitcher. In the judgment
of the umpire, if an attempt to deceive has been made by a pitcher, one warning will be issued
by the umpire to the pitcher; a second violation will result in the removal of the pitcher from the
pitching position for the remainder of the game.

So, not only do they require no windmill, they require the pitch to be the same speed and same arc on every pitch. The dumbing down of America just got dumber...

Good grief! A lot of the girls at the 9-10 age group are fairly harmless with a bat, but not all of them. They're going to require a girl to get up there and pitch only fastballs? My DD and many of her teammates weren't particularly huge or powerful at 10U, but they could hit the ball sharply--and that's against pitchers who were allowed and encouraged to "deceive" them.

We talk so much about safety around here, organizations work so hard to keep young pitchers safe in the circle and then a league comes out with a rule like this!

 

[left turn]

I understand what the board of directors is trying to do. They are trying to attract and retain the most players by considering modifications to the program.

I am conflicted. On one hand, it doesn't seem fair to tell a pitcher she can't pitch when she has worked really hard to get to her level.

On the other hand, I am not sure how it helps a good pitcher to pitch against what are mostly true rec players. In a town of 10,000 we have 5 teams of 5th and 6th grade girls and 3 teams of 7th and 8th grade girls. In each team there are maybe 2 players that can hit good pitching. There is maybe one decent pitcher per grade.

 

[left turn]

I will be advocating to the board that we do not make a rule change. I would rather we focus on retention of players by raising the level of play.

There are some things I think we can do:
• Dedicate more resources on development of younger players and coaches
o If a player is more competent, they are likely to stay engaged. If the coaches are more knowledgeable they can help raise the level of play as well
• Promote girls softball in the community
o Outreach to the elementary schools – Talk to the children directly about softball, give demonstrations at school assemblies
o Provide a memorable role model for the younger girls – If we can provide an image of what a good player looks like (and what they can do) maybe softball will catch their imagination and spur more long term interest. Maybe we can get some of the high school players to meet the younger players and work with them

 

[Rocketech1]

Not a fan of this rule but correct me if I am wrong but didn't fastpitch have men and women slingshot pitchers who threw real hard? All these threads about IR show that as long as you have great arm whip (IR) you can generate a lot of velocity from 12 o'clock through release without even having to windmil or leap and drag.

 

[inde53546]

Until last year the Girl Scouts had a slow pitch league, they ended it and our rec league had several girls join. What I heard was that some girls that joined and others didn't join were afraid because it was Fastpitch not realizing at 10 u or younger that for the most part the pitching wasn't much faster. Some were definitely intimidated by the term Fastpitch. Several of the Girl Scouts were quite good

 

[David Carter]

We do draw from maybe area that covers maybe 50,000 but there are also about 4 rec leagues in the area. This year we drew a big number for us (180 girls, the boys even helped and started really encouraging 6U tee ball girls that play baseball to play with us this year there are almost no girls playing tee baseball) and have 4 teams at 14U. We have girls who have just started but we also have girls that could play TB anywhere, everyone gets along. We take our All Star teams to TB tournaments to get them ready for their nationals run and at the end of the tournament every girls gotten at least one hit, we have not seen anyone that's un-hittable, maybe we just have a little higher level of rec here.

We make a very conscious effort to train pitchers at 10U the league even pays for group pitching lessons once a week one girl allowed from every team and you can rotate girls if you want but 10U gets to send two girls per team.

As far as modified rules the only thing we do is a five runs per inning rule for first four innings. We also have mandatory participation 2+1 rule (two defensive innings and one at bat).

 

[teammom2]

Silly thought. Competition at the highest level should be fun, and rec should not be an excuse to stink or provide bad coaching or methods. Most rec programs feed travel and HS, so you get what you pay for so to speak.

That's just it. Our rec program is so terrible in terms of skills taught, etc. it is NOT a feeder for HS. Players have always gone out of town to find travel teams that teach more, compete more. There would be too much work to do to overhaul the current program.