against moving 14 YOs to 43 feet

[Amy in AZ.]

Not me. I haven't spent too much time thinking about it. But, Jennie Finch and Cheri Kempf are. Here is the Tweet.


kempf5 Cheri Kempf
RT @jfinch27 @ASAUSASoftball Voting Against moving 14u back to 43 ft! Absolutely Against!

 

[Coach JV]

I am against, but it is inevitable

 

[PAcoach]

What would you do then with a 14U 9th grader who pitches for her varsity?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I suppose a girl could go back and forth. I am wondering why Finch and Kempf would be against it and if they know better than other people? Tweets are only 140 characters, so I don't think she could explain it, that quickly.

Maybe I can find out something else about her feelings.

 

[PAcoach]

I suppose a girl could go back and forth. I am wondering why Finch and Kempf would be against it and if they know better than other people? Tweets are only 140 characters, so I don't think she could explain it, that quickly.

Maybe I can find out something else about her feelings.

So if she pitched from 40 over the weekend at a tourney, then Monday she would throw from 43 in HS....that would stink

 

[lawdawg]

This weekend I was warming up one of our pitchers who has decent screw ball to go with her fb and change. I asked her to throw it and she said I cant make it work from 40'. I reminded her that she threw it last Summer from 40' and she still had no confidence in the pitch. She had mental block from playing all Fall at 43' with her HS team. Let's all go to 43' and get this done - most of these kids are throwing at 43' for their school teams already. Additionally, some say they feel safer at 43' - again another mental thing I guess.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

PACoach, but she shouldn't be pitching Sat., Sun., and Mon., anyway.

I have no idea why different organizations have different regulations. I am just relaying what a pretty good representative of the sport thinks.

 

[SoftSocDad]

I'm absolutely against. What's the rush?

So, a 9yo playing 8u would go from 30 feet to 43 feet at 14u in 4 years?

Knowing absolutely nothing about softball - but knowing a lot about physics and the human body - I can say this is a stupid proposal.

 

[WinThemAll]

What would you do then with a 14U 9th grader who pitches for her varsity?

If she is playing varsity, shouldn't she be playing up at 16U? Wouldn't that make more sense to challenge her.

10U pitches at 35 -- usually with FB and change
12U pitches at 40 -- FB, change and working on adding another pitch while adjusting to larger ball and 5' more.
Moving 14U to 43' just pushes the pitcher to deal with another 3' plus adding usually adding another pitch, learning to make other adjustments to much better hitting. There is a lot going on at 14U. Some players are still growing and filling out, dealing with moving to high school (pressures), not to mention not knowing if you are still a kid or a young woman. I think it is too much too fast.

It might not be that big of deal short-term, but I bet we will see a larger drop-off of players leaving the game or more overuse/bad mechanics injuries in the long run.
This whole dilemma could be resolved if the age divisions were changed.

 

[starsnuffer]

I honestly don't think the 3 feet makes a difference from a competitive or safety standpoint. . . but the difference in distance messes up the pitcher, which sucks.

Pick a distance and go with it across the board. '43 works for me.

-W