When did your DD first throw 60 mph?

[ThunderStruck8]

Damn, you guys are good. Several pitchers in the Big 12 wouldn't make your team.

The team is pretty good and definitely full of athletes. Other requirements are a 60mph overhand throw, throwing distance of 150' plus, and home to first in 3 seconds or less. Now a first year 16U team with 3 Big10 commits and one SEC. Even with the speed and movement my DD has, she gets crushed once in a while at this level. But it only makes her work to be better

 

[MNDad]

The team is pretty good and definitely full of athletes. Other requirements are a 60mph overhand throw, throwing distance of 150' plus, and home to first in 3 seconds or less. Now a first year 16U team with 3 Big10 commits and one SEC. Even with the speed and movement my DD has, she gets crushed once in a while at this level. But it only makes her work to be better

I was being sarcastic. Those "requirements" are higher than a lot of D1 players achieve. A 14U or 16U team full of players like that is pretty far fetched. I can see where you'd have several players capable of that, but no way all of them.

 

[ThunderStruck8]

I was being sarcastic. Those "requirements" are higher than a lot of D1 players achieve. A 14U or 16U team full of players like that is pretty far fetched. I can see where you'd have several players capable of that, but no way all of them.

Far fetched for some is reality to others. Those numbers aren't overly difficult to achieve for most good softball athletes. Regardless, not the point of this thread and doesn't really need to be debated here.

 

[rdbass]

Far fetched for some is reality to others. Those numbers aren't overly difficult to achieve for most good softball athletes. Regardless, not the point of this thread and doesn't really need to be debated here.

My DD's team finished top 10 in the 14U Premier division and it's a requirement to throw consistently at 60 to be a pitcher on her team. Her cruising at 59-60 sometimes isn't enough at that level

Now a first year 16U team. The team is pretty good and definitely full of athletes. Other requirements are a 60mph overhand throw, throwing distance of 150' plus, and home to first in 3 seconds or less

Those numbers aren't overly difficult to achieve for most good softball athletes. Regardless, not the point of this thread and doesn't really need to be debated here.

The point is yes they are at 14u and I'll even say for most 16u softball players. You are doing a disservice to the parents of younger players by making these CLAIMS. Prove me wrong that I am doubting your claims. Let's start with:

home to first in 3 seconds or less.

You claim every player lefty & righty's home to first speed 3 sec or less....video will be helpful.

I'm calling.....

For the record my DD couldn't pitch 60 mph....and I didn't care.

 

[Eric F]

I guess it depends on what part of the country you're from. According to another thread, at the 10u PGF Nationals every kid was throwing in the mid-50s with one kid hitting 60. In fact, according to posters in that thread, PGF players hitting mid-50s at 10u is a common occurrence. Here in the Northeast, hitting the mid-50s at 10u is less likely and is the exception, not the norm.

You're exaggerating a bit there, SB. The top pitchers in 10U at PGF were throwing mid-50s, not "every kid". The story was similar the previous year, too. 10yos throwing mid-50's isn't common, but it happens, and PGF attracts those kinds of players.

Last week, my DD was on the field for a fun workout with a few of her old rec ball friends who are all currently playing on different 12U TB teams in So Cal. One of those girls was SyndreSoftbal's DD. She has just moved up to the 12" ball and 40' distance. Her speed is easily over 50 (based on my precisely-calibrated eyeball radar). A month earlier, throwing an 11" ball from 35' in PGF, mid-50s from this kid is very believable. Knowing how hard SS's DD works, and the kind of athlete she is, I will not be surprised if she is at 60 by the time she gets to HS.

 

[ThunderStruck8]

The point is yes they are at 14u and I'll even say for most 16u softball players. You are doing a disservice to the parents of younger players by making these CLAIMS. Prove me wrong that I am doubting your claims. Let's start with:

You claim every player lefty & righty's home to first speed 3 sec or less....video will be helpful.

I'm calling.....

For the record my DD couldn't pitch 60 mph....and I didn't care.

Call it what you will, no skin off my back. I wouldn't care if my DD didn't pitch 60 either. And why am I doing a disservice to younger players? It's not my organization, I don't make the rules or set the criteria. My DD plays there, I'm just a chauffer, travel agent, bucket dad, and an ear to listen when she has a bad day.

The metropolitan area where the team is based has a population of 9.9 million. Girls come from a 3 hour radius to practice, so add probably another 2-3 million or more. You think it's impossible to find 13 girls that fit the criteria? The law of averages wins out my friend...

 

[JJsqueeze]

I think it sometimes helps when discussing your kid's team when that team is a Bandits/Angels/Athletics/Mustangs etc type team to mention that the team is a top national team (so you don't have to give the name). That way it makes some of these claims more realistic. Most folks on the board have girls on teams that are not playing in this shark filled pool and do not run across these teams unless they draw a bad card (Marley reference intended) at a tourney and even then may not see the first stringers. So there is little experience or exposure to exactly how stacked some of these teams are. My experience in seeing these teams is that the girls are very fast 1-9, the pitchers are very good and fast 1-3 and their rosters are big. I think their bench players would still win most tourneys.

Often I see these teams and the players on them referenced as somehow being normal and they are not. It would be like only using Stanford and Harvard to evaluate what good college student is. Or using the membership roster at Augusta National to get a sense of the what a good golfer looks like.

Lotsa...lotsa lotsa lotsa, pitchers hit 60+, get recruited, play high level college ball and never even tryout for these teams, so using them and their players as a measuring stick for anything other than what a starting freshman pitcher at a TOP level team in a power 5 conference looks like is kind of useless when discussing the path and milestones (like when she hit 60) of the vast majority of pitchers, even the vast majority of very good pitchers.

 

[Cannonball]

How do people explain real radar guns used during the CWS, demonstrating that there are a lot of pitchers throwing in the upper 50s and yet, we have so many people who's dd throw 60 and above. If I would a radar gun manufacturer, I'd make sure my gun showed the highest readings. Why? They would fly off the shelves as Suzie Q's FB went from 48 to 60 overnight. LOL If I ran an organization that generated revenue from parents searching for that golden ticket, you bet everyone throws 60. BTW, I recall when BB went 70 mph. I told her to slow it down some or I would take the car away.

Sure some parents have dds that throw 60 and above and some at an early age. However, I am reminded of the phone call I got from a scout when I was a baseball coach. I was asked my opinion about what speed a conference pitcher threw. I said he was really good but his FB wouldn't break 85. I was told he was 90 all day long. Really, I told the scout that someone was waiting to sell him a bridge. That scout had that young man at 85 all day long.

Finally, there are speeds that stand out as you hit or watch a game. 60 is one of them but it isn't unhittable. In fact, good hitters feast at that speed. 65 is another jump and more rare. Good hitters have a lot more trouble starting at this speed and 68 really separates those that hit and those that swing. When you see a real 70 mph, that is amazing and worth watching.

 

[Rocketech1]

My guess is that a) daddy clocked his DD once at 60mph and now says that "Suzy" throws 60mph and/or b) they are using inconsistent radar guns like RevFire (great measuring spin, not great measuring speed); Bushnell radar guns; Glove Radar; etc. I use the Pocket Radar Ball Coach and it seems to give the most consistent readings (even though some here claim it reads slow?).

 

[ThunderStruck8]

I think it sometimes helps when discussing your kid's team when that team is a Bandits/Angels/Athletics/Mustangs etc type team to mention that the team is a top national team (so you don't have to give the name). That way it makes some of these claims more realistic.

Sometimes saying you are a 'top national team' people tend to think you are boasting, and I didn't want to be viewed that way. DD's team has played all of those teams (winning and losing) and plays practice/round robin games with one of them on the regular. Saying they had a top 10 finish at PGF Premier Nationals should have said something as well but I think that part was glossed over with people trying to prove their point that it's impossible to have a team like that. We played a DFP'ers DD's 18U team this summer as 14's and had them beat until we beat ourselves. And the 18U team is all D1 committed with a pitcher we knocked out of the game going to Alabama (who was probably having an off day Lol).