- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
My dd got a great lesson this weekend. It was her first time pitching with an ump who doesn't have a standard strike zone. His was about mid-thigh to belly button. She tends to hum them in about knee level a lot on her fast ball. He also didn't call strikes for anything on the outside corner. Her strength is her location, and she can hit the corners really well. But he would call them balls unless they were closer to the middle. She's usually so cool in the circle but I could see her getting frustrated. When it was over she complained about it (it didn't help the championship ended at midnight and she was exhausted and cranky). She was pissed even though we won in the end - he called the other team the same way so it's not like it was just us.
So I told her that part of being a pitcher is figuring out where the ump is calling strikes and adjusting. But it's not fair! she said. Yes well, that's the case often in life. You adapt or you go nuts. Sorry, kiddo. We've talked about this before but this was the first time we've seen it in a game where she was pitching. She's observed it before, when a teammate was pitching, and it annoyed her then but nothing like the frustration she felt when she was the one trying to strike out batters.
Though it did give me a taste of why, perhaps, pitchers' parents tend to be a little crazy, I'm glad it happened. I think she'll be a stronger pitcher for it and hopefully next time, it'll be a lot less frustrating for her. Or maybe not
On another note, the team we faced in the championship, I'd noticed their pitcher was really good. I clocked her early in the day because she looked so fast (47mph). She was impressive. Only she was still pitching in the championship. We got there halfway through the day but all 3 games I saw parts of, she was the one pitching. By the championship you could tell she was beat. She was walking girls left and right, and her speed was noticeably slower. I felt really bad for her. They obviously were relying on her pretty much exclusively. It's not only a lot of pressure mentally but it seems like it would be a strain physically for a 10 year old to pitch so many games in one day.
So I told her that part of being a pitcher is figuring out where the ump is calling strikes and adjusting. But it's not fair! she said. Yes well, that's the case often in life. You adapt or you go nuts. Sorry, kiddo. We've talked about this before but this was the first time we've seen it in a game where she was pitching. She's observed it before, when a teammate was pitching, and it annoyed her then but nothing like the frustration she felt when she was the one trying to strike out batters.
Though it did give me a taste of why, perhaps, pitchers' parents tend to be a little crazy, I'm glad it happened. I think she'll be a stronger pitcher for it and hopefully next time, it'll be a lot less frustrating for her. Or maybe not
On another note, the team we faced in the championship, I'd noticed their pitcher was really good. I clocked her early in the day because she looked so fast (47mph). She was impressive. Only she was still pitching in the championship. We got there halfway through the day but all 3 games I saw parts of, she was the one pitching. By the championship you could tell she was beat. She was walking girls left and right, and her speed was noticeably slower. I felt really bad for her. They obviously were relying on her pretty much exclusively. It's not only a lot of pressure mentally but it seems like it would be a strain physically for a 10 year old to pitch so many games in one day.