That's interesting, years ago I coached on a team that practiced at an indoor facility with turf, they had a supply of balls that you could use. These balls were so slick they actually shined in light.
The thread in the Rules section has me puzzled. In my area Dudley Thunder Heat is the most popular ball so that is what I'm most familiar with. Personally I prefer this ball in new condition and consider it to have a light tackiness to the surface. This feel generally lasts most of the game but...
I think most people understand that you can only apply approved substances to a ball, and dirt is not on that list. Otherwise what you describe would be a common occurrence, in 50+ years I have never seen anyone do it.
The first thing is to check and see if she's actually spinning the ball with a 2 seam orientation. When throwing spin pitches the ball often comes off the hand in strange ways, just because you start with a 2 or 4 seam grip doesn't mean that's the way it's spinning. The way I check this now is...
In my 2022 rule book 6-2-2 starts out "The pitcher shall not at any time during the game be allowed to use tape or other substance on the ball ............." Has this been changed?
Many years ago when I went to my first D1 college game I had a chance to stand by the fence and look into the dugout. It was a mid major college. I was shocked to see the home team head coach give the umpires a bunch of used balls as game balls. I had assumed that they always started the game...
I would go in the opposite direction, especially considering this girl's age. Internal cues (focusing on parts of the body) are okay if you are teaching basic movements, but if you want to work on velocity isolating movements won't be very productive. I think you are better off telling her what...
The quick in game fix to try is to change the location of the target. Where is the catcher setting up the glove? And I'm not sure that you want to try a serious mechanical change for pitches that are only missing by an inch.
I saw this a couple of years ago. Second baseman fields a ground ball and gets flattened by the runner. The runner gets up and continues to second base. Second baseman lays on the ground for about 10 seconds because she's a bit dazed. No call on the play. Ump says the second baseman never...
It's difficult to draw conclusions from 10U. I have seen pitchers that age, with HE mechanics, have success because they are big, strong and good athletes, and they throw relatively fast with decent control. But as they age they can't keep up with the IR pitchers.
It's not so much the degree...
The key to making any change is finding a cue which works. Coming out of the glove or starting with a flexed elbow works for some girls. My favorite is having them focus on making the ball circle smaller, to make that happen they will have to flex the elbow.
It's really an individual thing. With a beginning pitcher, or any pitcher that is struggling to master IR, I will encourage more arm bend over the top with a smaller ball circle. But as they develop I will generally let them find what works best for their particular build and body structure. For...
I assume that the pitch was low in the zone, so the hand position doesn't bother me. The overall plane of the swing looks like it cuts down and in, across contact, rather than on plane with the path of ball. What jumps out at me is the relatively straight lead arm. I like to see a lot more flex...
Rather than what is 'ideal' I have a 'range' that I consider acceptable. Some pitchers will gravitate towards a 'long' arm, with very little elbow flex, so their action will be more circular and have less of a contribution from IR. Others will have a lot more flex in the elbow over the top and...