WWYD?

[let it be fun]

DD (2007) has joined a new team, mostly 2008s, core has been together two years now, just moving to 12u. one other 2007 so far on team, really good P, throws really hard, probably in top 15% of what I have seen in 12u.

coach set up a scrimmage/friendly near our hometown, based on information he has given, and where it will be played, I think this is local 10u AS team for local rec league, so it will be 2008s and 2009s. have not seen them, but my gut tells me it is going to be a big mismatch in our favor. I think HC of the AS team wants to see how this team stacks up. I think our coach just wanted to get a game in to start integrating the new girls into the team.

as the HC of the TB team, what would you do, go a little easy, play it just like regular bracket game, play it like a pool game. BTW, we will only have 9, so playing time for everyone will not be an issue.

I would treat it like a scrimmage. Have a ton of fun and play the girls in multiple positions so you can see what you have. One thing we have done in scrimmages is have both teams go through their line-up and that is an inning. That way even if a pitcher dominates every girl gets to hit every inning. Whatever you do, don't keep score.

 

[bmakj]

well, we played, it went about like I thought, P1 pitched 3 innings, blew all but one batter away in their lineup, 1 or 2 BB, one hit, maybe two other balls in play. GP (not officially on roster yet) pitched 2, pretty good, just a notch below P1, probably P2; probable P3 pitched one inning, gave up one run (RBI by same girl who got only base hit on P1, this girl doubled both times). C1 caught 5 innings. innings ended if we batted entire order. we gave them a couple of double offensive innings (ie clear bases after three outs, but they hit for another 3)

our base running was semi normally aggressive for most of the game, stopped sending girls form 3rd on PB/WP after a while, but other runners going (I get this, want them to get in that aggressive mindset). they had no pitching, our girls were aggressive at plate, and we even stopped taking 1B on HBP if it was a roller or bouncer, unless it was B4, but still a lot of pulled foul balls, lot of walks, a few balls in play (their defense was not really that bad). DD had 4 PA with 0 AB, tried to tell her midway through to swing no matter what at 3-0 or 3-1 (just to see another pitch), but could not get message accross. umpire really got generous with zone with their pitchers as well (pretty much entire river, mid calf through shoulders, not calling him out, it was a good thing). since DD caught, did not really pay attention much to our defense, but it seemed girls got moved around a lot, little action though.

think it was wakeup call for the opposing coaches, actually was a conglomerate of couple different 10u RAS teams (pooled from about 6 reg season tteams total), with one girl (the one with two double) from a 12 RAS team (played with DD in rec reg season and AS, we tried to recruit her to this team, but not ready for $ commitment). think they realize now they need pitching BAD to compete at any sort of level above rec.

for our team, I think it tells us if we can hit, with the P1 and probable P2 we have, can probably be a decent B team. pitching is king, with good pitching, you can do a lot, without it, you go nowhere. looking forward to a fun ride.

side note, this is pretty much same team these coaches had from last year (7 of the 11 on roster are returnees, P1 and P2 are new, but P1 and Dd are known to them, Guest played in past, and have played in same org in the past on different team, as has one of the other new players). I think other coach asked for this game, to see where they were. I think they are in for a tough road, not certain where they practice, but based on jerseys girls wore last night, good portion of the team has to have pretty good ride for practices, and will be hard for parents to see value in that if they are continually getting crushed.

 

[uncdrew]

I've been on both sides of a team learning that they have a long way to go. It sure can be eye-opening.

 

[Gags]

I think other coach asked for this game, to see where they were. I think they are in for a tough road, not certain where they practice, but based on jerseys girls wore last night, good portion of the team has to have pretty good ride for practices, and will be hard for parents to see value in that if they are continually getting crushed.

Curious how AS programs work in your area? While my team was a "travel" team playing at the RAS level, it sounds like the other team was a combination of a true RAS - a league based team that comes together post-season, plays a few summer tourneys, and disbands. If they disband, and assuming they'll have tryouts when they re-form next spring, what was the purpose other than letting them play one more game together before returning to their rec teams?

 

[bmakj]

this was a team thinking to make leap from RAS to travel ball in some form (we have "travel" league in our area, but it is really hybrid between rec and travel). they took players from 3 different 10u RAS teams and a player from a 12u RAS team, and made one team, to be a 12u team this fall and next spring.. problem is no pitching (probably because all the decent pitchers are already on travel teams).

 

[Gags]

Ah - yikes. 10U is rough with no pitching. But 12U? I wonder what the betting line would be on "this team will still be playing in the Spring"?

 

[MNDad]

I would swap pitchers with the AS team so one of your pitchers is throwing a 12' ball to your team from 40' and one of the AS pitchers is throwing an 11" ball to their own team.

Start out as a game and move to situational offense and defense if teams are lopsided.