Went to see a couple pgf games

[ian]

10U has an issue in which many of the young ladies do not have a strong sense of body awareness yet.

I think if you viewed 16U past and present then I'd agree that game is getting better. Ditto for 18U.

True.

A few years ago when DD was 14 she went to a 16u NSA tryout. I saw some younger girls having tryouts and was surprised. These girls had it together. Crow hopping, perfect relays and squaring up most balls while they were in the box. Kids looked good. I thought they were a pretty good 12u team. Later that year they won the 10u CA NSA championship(I know not PGF level). Anyways daughter didnt tryout for 16s because they were at a tourney. She played with the 18s. I wont say which team was better skilled I bet you can guess.

After watching 4 PGF tourneys on the west coast and making pit stops at the IDT and USSSA worlds in KC this summer, I bet the top 5 PGF 10u and 12U teams would look pretty solid compared to the lowest level PGF 16 and 18s. Maybe I'm wrong, just my observation.

I sure everyone agrees the comp is getting better, we may disagree on what age group that happens at.

 

[ian]

I think rolling hard may be rolling hard at all of the serious answers to his troll post..

Gives us DFP junkies something to discuss and more web hits for DFP. Both good things!

 

[ian]

Wow!!

Check-out on any club team that I've been on and you'll get an earful. Some coaches go as far as to call their future college coaches and describe bad mannerisms.

Once you have accepted an offer to play in college then you pick it up ... the attitude is that you are getting ready to play at a higher level.

I saw a top level 16u team check out during a game against a certain PGF team this year. The HL team came out in the first and hung 6 runs. The 3 outs were all shots, two line outs to 3rd. Then they checked out. Their whole look changed the rest of the game. They won 6-0. Not saying their coach didnt rip them for it.

 

[_MIA_]

You could try hitting back side hard on the ground punching the ball through the IF or maybe a line drive to the gap with a quarter or half swing. The last thing you do is take a "me swing" and hit the ball so high in the sky that the left fielder can make a sammich waiting for it to come down. It is a game of chess, but some people insist on playing checkers or even tic-tac-toe.

You know more about softball than I do so I suppose that is a strategy employed at the older ages but I would question whether that would produce more hits than a kid taking her regular swing.

 

[riseball]

At the higher levels a targeted approach given a specific situation is much more productive than swinging out of your shoes and hoping for the best. At 12U the pitcher is still making lots of mistakes so you can sit on a cupcake and most often you will get one. This happens much less as kids get older so often a player has to make something happen with a less than perfect pitch. At any level the pitches that get hammered are almost always mistakes. Fewer mistakes mean fewer hard hit balls. Truly great hitters do not go up to the plate looking for a strike. They are looking for a pitch that may not be a strike, but it is something they can work with. That is why eventually the nonsense of never throwing near the plate on 0-2 / 1-2 goes into the dumpster.

 

[_MIA_]

At the higher levels a targeted approach given a specific situation is much more productive than swinging out of your shoes and hoping for the best. At 12U the pitcher is still making lots of mistakes so you can sit on a cupcake and most often you will get one. This happens much less as kids get older so often a player has to make something happen with a less than perfect pitch. At any level the pitches that get hammered are almost always mistakes. Fewer mistakes mean fewer hard hit balls. Truly great hitters do not go up to the plate looking for a strike. They are looking for a pitch that may not be a strike, but it is something they can work with. That is why eventually the nonsense of never throwing near the plate on 0-2 / 1-2 goes into the dumpster.

Agree that hitters get less mistakes as the pitchers get better and that throwing a strike with 0-2 is bad practice. This isn't different than baseball. Not sure I agree that great hitters don't go up looking for their pitch with less than 2 strikes..

 

[julray]

Agree that hitters get less mistakes as the pitchers get better and that throwing a strike with 0-2 is bad practice. This isn't different than baseball. Not sure I agree that great hitters don't go up looking for their pitch with less than 2 strikes..

I certainly ask my DD to be selective and look for her pitch on the 1st strike. If the pitcher makes a good tough pitch for a strike, then good for them, she has two more chances to be more aggressive and adjust.

 

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

We played the Tulsa Elite 07 team twice this year once in OKC and the other in Branson. They've got a couple of girls who are pretty salty. I was however very very upset that they didnt bring their biggest hitter with them to Branson. I believe she was just a guest player but for a 10 year old girl she swung the bat better than some HS boys I know.

We went 1-1 against them.

 

[_MIA_]

We played the Tulsa Elite 07 team twice this year once in OKC and the other in Branson. They've got a couple of girls who are pretty salty. I was however very very upset that they didnt bring their biggest hitter with them to Branson. I believe she was just a guest player but for a 10 year old girl she swung the bat better than some HS boys I know.

We went 1-1 against them.

Tulsa Elite 07 didn't go to Branson. That was Tulsa Elite 08, which used to be an all 08 team but I believe they picked up a few 07s before the season. Tulsa Elite 07 is playing in a 10U PGF tourney in CA right now I believe.

 

[ian]

You know more about softball than I do so I suppose that is a strategy employed at the older ages but I would question whether that would produce more hits than a kid taking her regular swing.

If you were the father of a pitcher you would want hitters to try and hit a dinker over 2nd base too.