It's not unheard of in the midwest either. Our 10u pitchers both throw a change. It's not great but they throw it and sometimes it works. Last year at a tourney we faced a 10u pitcher that also threw a curve and a drop. They weren't fully developed but they had correct spin and the moved a little bit. It will be interesting to see how she's progressed when we see her this year.
REC League Doesnt have to be boring
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Yes and no, because every area's culture and talent pool are different. Out of the 70-75 girls in our local 8u, there are maybe 6-8 girls capable of doing what you described, maybe. We have a lot of non-athletic girls who are in their 1st or 2nd year and many of the newer girls never played catch with their dads or siblings, etc., so they're as raw as raw can be.
From a safety perspective, these girls just don't have the type of awareness you might take for granted (such as never swinging a bat outside the on-deck circle), and while you refer to it as 'dumbing down', when you've got girls out there who don't know the fundamentals of catching or who don't keep an eye on the ball at all times, I think the RIF balls are a must. And to be honest, I think our 10u ought to use them, too, but so far, they've had only slight injuries with the harder ball.
That said, I'd have to see this 8yo (or even 9yo) catcher throwing out a runner at 2nd before I'd believe itbut I'm absolutely not buying that an 8yo throws an intentional 'change-up'.
Our 8u team plays 8u and plays up in the 10u in another league(with better rules) one of our catcher consistently throws runners out stealing 3rd and has thrown 1 out at 2nd and been close a few other times.
last yr there was an 8u girl playn up in 10u pitching very fast and thrown a good change up. my dd playd travel ball with them over the fall. overall the team was not very good but the pitcher was.
Im actually ok with the coach coming in to pitch after a few walks and 4 balls because Id rather play d and hit than walk at any age if that particular league lacks pitchn . But hopefully at 10u this wouldnt happen often. but in the rec league I was telling you about it happens at 12u total walkfest. My oldest dd quit ball partially because of this.
