Tourney #2 in the books

[softball88]

In the area I live in, I've seen competitive 16C teams. They are usually a pitcher away and/or hitter to be 16B. 16C is usually teams fighting to become B's. I would agree with abbygale with 10C and 12C looking to compare tournament shirts.

This fall my dd played 18C as a 14. She did very well. All 18C girls/women/ladies could hit a 14 yr olds 58 mph fastball. She did it...I didn't like it. I wouldn't let her do it again. And dd curve, drop and rise was fine against them...There young women, they have their adult muscles.

See what you have at the C tournament and go from there...

 

[Slappers]

Slappers, you are there so your judgement counts most. Is your 12 ready and capable of handling a line drive back at her face from a girl that may be 17 after January? She can absolutely be capable of pitching speeds of 16 year olds but not be able to handle the defensive side of that. I have no problem with 12's playing with 16, except for pitcher and third base. They have to be absolutely focused and athletically capable before I would recommend that. It is a player by player decision. You gotta make that call.
They can play 20 games successfully at this level but it only takes the one hard hit up the middle or down the line to ruin the confidence of a young player. Hopefully you have her in a mask. Our 14a pitcher was hit twice last weekend, she is an older 14a. She never put a glove on the ball. One straight to the knee, the other to the hand. IMO, she may throw hard but she is too slow with reflexes and one day she will get hurt. She doesn't wear a mask either. Be careful with your pitcher, at this age any one girl is capable of sending a well hit ball straight back to the pitcher or down third base with enough force and heat on it to cause severe damage. Like I said, you are there making the decisions. Make sure you are giving your dd a fair evaluation in terms of safety on the mound.

I require masks for everyone in my infield. I'm big on safety. She has good reflexes but no one is safe from an absolute blast regardless of that fact. I would never put a player in a position that I thought could get them injured.

We actually had a freak play on Saturday where a girl bunted and second was covering first. Third baseman has a cannon and gunned the ball to first but second wasn't capable of handling it and it hit her in the throat. It was on another team but damn it was scary. Another inch to the left and it would have been a hell of a lot worse.