- Sep 19, 2022
- 7
- 3
I have a few questions that I'm trying to wrap my head around. First, I'm trying to see what realistic goals my 10YO should be setting. What is a good (and reasonably attainable) strike percentage for her? She has been in lessons for just about a year (with change of pitching coach at least twice causing restarting/backtracking) and has the main concepts down of course. She's throwing at about 35-39 mph for her fastball (so average) and about 26-28 mph on her change-up. She's only been pitching in live game scenarios since about late April/first of May with some months not having any live mound time. So I still consider her a Newbie in that "live" category. She is definitely more confident in the lesson and just pitching with me catching versus pitching to a live batter. Her team coach (which has absolutely no clue about softball pitching but was a former MLB coaching staff/minor league pitcher) wants to see her with 60% strikes and when she seems to be in a slump his way of "boosting" her up is yelling either "FOCUS" or "COMPETE" at her. Which of course does the absolute opposite to a 10YO pre-pubescent girl.... But that's not here or there.
Second, what is a general pitch count number that she should be having per weekend for tournaments? Right now our team only has 3 pitchers, of which she is the only "experienced" pitcher. We recently had a weekend where she had approximately 150 pitches (GameChanger stat) in game. That of course is not counting warm up before game and in between innings. She was sore for 2 days even after icing her arm and she said her legs were very sore as well. We of course took the 2 days after the tournament off from pitching to recuperate.
I'm just trying to get realistic information and trying to help my daughter succeed the best and not kill her love of the game. Before I approach the coach to try to set good boundaries for us as well as trying to set realistic goals for my daughter to hit, I wanted to try to consult someone with better knowledge on this subject. I'm hoping that someone has some solid information and maybe even some websites where I can increase my research. I don't want to take unfounded information to the coach if I/we are in the wrong thinking his goals are unrealistic. Thank you in advance for any information/help you would be able to provide to me.
Second, what is a general pitch count number that she should be having per weekend for tournaments? Right now our team only has 3 pitchers, of which she is the only "experienced" pitcher. We recently had a weekend where she had approximately 150 pitches (GameChanger stat) in game. That of course is not counting warm up before game and in between innings. She was sore for 2 days even after icing her arm and she said her legs were very sore as well. We of course took the 2 days after the tournament off from pitching to recuperate.
I'm just trying to get realistic information and trying to help my daughter succeed the best and not kill her love of the game. Before I approach the coach to try to set good boundaries for us as well as trying to set realistic goals for my daughter to hit, I wanted to try to consult someone with better knowledge on this subject. I'm hoping that someone has some solid information and maybe even some websites where I can increase my research. I don't want to take unfounded information to the coach if I/we are in the wrong thinking his goals are unrealistic. Thank you in advance for any information/help you would be able to provide to me.