What to do about pitching line up? (8u rec)

[PerpetualBeginner]

Hi everyone, I'm not sure what do do about our pitching lineup....right now the games don't count for anything (aside from stat keeping) so we're just letting the girls who are taking lessons pitch games.

We have one pitcher that can actually strike girls out, while the others might throw strikes here and there. We have parents on our team asked why we don't leave her in instead of rotating her out after one inning. The other teams we play leave their best pitchers in for the max allowed innings, which is think is 2 and moves to 3 soon. This is not my call since I'm not the manager, but given the games don't count I think he's just letting the girls pitch for now.

Right now we coach pitch if they throw 4 balls, but that ends in 2 weeks, at which time games also start to count. I would think we should put our best pitcher in as much as she's comfortable with one inning being too little. The other girls that pitch, including my own daughter, give up runs due to taking the batters to coach pitch. I've already had a discussion with my daughter and told her when the time comes for games to count, she might just not pitch and she said she understands.

In any case, what would be the best way to have our best pitcher in the game? Start first two innings then let the other girls pitch? Start first and finish 3rd or 4th inning? I don't know that we want to keep her in the whole game as to not wear her out, but definitely want to strategize how to keep the opposing teams from scoring.

 

[CoachCeetar]

IMO, keep doing what you're doing and get anyone at least a few innings that wants them. Having 5 nine year olds who sorta know how to pitch is infinitely better than having 1 who really knows how to pitch and 4 that don't. (Also the non-Ace pitchers might actually end up better, they just don't come to it as naturally or athletically but 40 innings in suddenly they get it)


But strategy-wise, best pitcher pitches all but one of the max, and then held in reserve for the last inning, unless insurmountable lead/deficit.

 

[Dabears17]

Is this rec? When I coached 8u, I encouraged all the players to try pitching. Our league had a rule where no pitcher could pitch more than two innings in a game. So, one inning would be to try a girl who hadn't pitched much, one for one of my best two pitchers, and the other innings were for the moderately good pitchers. My goal was to develop lots of pitchers for 10u and beyond.

The leagues around me don't allow walks in 8u for the whole season.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

It’s 8u rec with coach relief, so there’s only one thing to remember - WINNING MATTERS. Have the ace get used to pitching with a wig on, something the contrasts her natural hair color. When the games start to count, pitch her max innings with the wig, then close out the games without the wig. You’ll need a second jersey for her, or just get her #1, and for the non-wig innings make it #11 with some black duct tape. You can make sure your DD is included by having her help pick out the wig color. Good luck. Be elite.

 

[Gambler Bob]

It’s 8u rec with coach relief, so there’s only one thing to remember - WINNING MATTERS. Have the ace get used to pitching with a wig on, something the contrasts her natural hair color. When the games start to count, pitch her max innings with the wig, then close out the games without the wig. You’ll need a second jersey for her, or just get her #1, and for the non-wig innings make it #11 with some black duct tape. You can make sure your DD is included by having her help pick out the wig color. Good luck. Be elite.

Can I get an Amen!

 

[quincy]

We played similar rules and had the best P pitch 1st inning then pulled her. 1st inning seemed to be the hardest inning to get out of without getting into a lot of trouble. Then let the game play out usually she ended back there but not always.

Not necessarily related to topic but we did not put our best defense behind her, nor the worst. That becomes juggling thing to.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

It’s 8u rec with coach relief, so there’s only one thing to remember - WINNING MATTERS. Have the ace get used to pitching with a wig on, something the contrasts her natural hair color. When the games start to count, pitch her max innings with the wig, then close out the games without the wig. You’ll need a second jersey for her, or just get her #1, and for the non-wig innings make it #11 with some black duct tape. You can make sure your DD is included by having her help pick out the wig color. Good luck. Be elite.

I'll run that by our manager, he might go for it.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

Is this rec? When I coached 8u, I encouraged all the players to try pitching. Our league had a rule where no pitcher could pitch more than two innings in a game. So, one inning would be to try a girl who hadn't pitched much, one for one of my best two pitchers, and the other innings were for the moderately good pitchers. My goal was to develop lots of pitchers for 10u and beyond.

The leagues around me don't allow walks in 8u for the whole season.

Yup rec, we have the girls that want to pitch in the rotation already, but we'd also like to win against the other teams when the games start counting.

We either tie or lose by a couple of runs. The other teams put their best pitches in max innings allowed, we just do 1 inning per pitcher.

 

[PerpetualBeginner]

We played similar rules and had the best P pitch 1st inning then pulled her. 1st inning seemed to be the hardest inning to get out of without getting into a lot of trouble. Then let the game play out usually she ended back there but not always.

Not necessarily related to topic but we did not put our best defense behind her, nor the worst. That becomes juggling thing to.

Yeah that's what our manager is leaning towards for our next game.

 

[cvsoftball]

It’s 8u rec with coach relief, so there’s only one thing to remember - WINNING MATTERS. Have the ace get used to pitching with a wig on, something the contrasts her natural hair color. When the games start to count, pitch her max innings with the wig, then close out the games without the wig. You’ll need a second jersey for her, or just get her #1, and for the non-wig innings make it #11 with some black duct tape. You can make sure your DD is included by having her help pick out the wig color. Good luck. Be elite.

and when the ace isn't pitching, she better be at SS.