There has been a lot of talk with DD this year about once the ball leaves her hand it's up to the softball gods from there. She's not some all-star pitcher, but she's good and typically initiates soft contact. Our defense was not great this year and even routine things were hard. About half way in she started to get frustrated. So I started repeating the aforementioned line to help her understand she can only worry about what she can control. From there it's out of her hands and she has to move on to the next pitch. Easier said than done.
Unraveling Pitching Frustrations
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There has been a lot of talk with DD this year about once the ball leaves her hand it's up to the softball gods from there. She's not some all-star pitcher, but she's good and typically initiates soft contact. Our defense was not great this year and even routine things were hard. About half way in she started to get frustrated. So I started repeating the aforementioned line to help her understand she can only worry about what she can control. From there it's out of her hands and she has to move on to the next pitch. Easier said than done.
- Aug 21, 2008
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I didn't realize his prices went up, maybe he had a special price a while ago and no longer needs to discount? Idk. I know Derek pretty well, but I don't feel comfortable asking him for a discount or coupon. Especially for someone I don't know.
- Apr 28, 2019
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As a pitcher it’s in your best interest to not show any emotion towards negative plays by your defense. It’s frustrating for certain but you don’t call teammates out in the field.
I tell my DD’s no matter what happens act like that is exactly what you expected to happen and move on to your next pitch.
It’s ok to celebrate good plays with teammates but let the coaches take care of the physical & mental defensive mistakes.
Poor defense definitely wears on a pitcher and at times it is really tough to keep your cool when your working your butt off and the defense isn’t helping the cause.
I tell my DD’s no matter what happens act like that is exactly what you expected to happen and move on to your next pitch.
It’s ok to celebrate good plays with teammates but let the coaches take care of the physical & mental defensive mistakes.
Poor defense definitely wears on a pitcher and at times it is really tough to keep your cool when your working your butt off and the defense isn’t helping the cause.
- Jul 16, 2019
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Thank you. I just bought it anyway because I am afraid that she will quit if we don't deal with it now.
- Jun 8, 2016
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I know I talk about this all the time, and people get on me for it on here, but I was a very emotional player. At her age I was a crier..as I got older (and the testosterone kicked in) I was a "thrower". It took me till college to get to the point where it was so emotionally draining for me to play that it was no longer fun. That said, one incident does not mean she is going down that road. Girls (and boys) at that age cry after (and during) games all the time...Just watch it as she gets older and if you feel that it not getting any better I would make sure you insert some perspective into the whole thing...she will thank you later.
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- Jul 5, 2016
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I think tears after a game are a natural consequence of being emotionally invested in the outcome. What players do need to avoid is getting angry with teammates who make mistakes. That is why there are coaches.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Right or, in my case, getting angry with yourself for making mistakes and then having a hard time letting it go...
- Jul 16, 2019
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Yeah, she is the same, really hard on herself. And usually crying started when she was still in the circle. It happened many times now. But last weekend was the worst so far. Just because she thought we got them. But all of sudden things became bad and out of control. No matter what she did, it kept getting worse. She couldn't handle it.
- Jul 5, 2016
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I can't say that I have any words of wisdom other than that we have all been in your shoes at one point of another. It was hard to watch games when it looked like it was in the bag and then it wasn't. My pitcher daughter was usually pretty stoic, but there were times through high school when the frustration just got to her.
This is why stats for many teams are worthless and you see HS players with 600 and higher batting averages. Strikeouts are a better indicator of performance for the pitcher in these situations. You see developing players all the time that just do not move well to the ball and are not making other good plays to make up for it. A good coach will see right through this but I have seen some coaches even on higher level teams that amazingly don't see it, and even pull pitchers when their defense is letting them down. They should be benching their outfielder or at least calling it out that they need to do better.
