My rec league philosophy:
1) First player to show up for the game.
2) 2nd player to show up.
3) 3rd player to show up.
etc.
1) First player to show up for the game.
2) 2nd player to show up.
3) 3rd player to show up.
etc.
In my experience ~ you'll have the best results (translation - scoring) if you disburse your weaker hitters throughout your lineup. Especially at the 10U level, your stronger hitters can compensate for a weak hitter here and there. If you put all your weak hitters together you're sunk..... they'll generally account for all 3 of your outs without scoring anything. This is especially disasterous in later innings.
Use linear regression, compute the mean time between OBEs (on base events), create histograms for each player, and then correlate their OBEs with the other players. Develop a ranked hierarchy of players, which you can then use to determine your lineup.
Maybe, I am not catching the feelings going on with rec girls, but with everyone bats, I have never noticed that any girl had hurt feelings about being late in the lineup. The girls know who hits good and who doesn't, and if they aren't getting hits, is it going to make them feel better by striking out, but being at the top of the line up? I have 3-4 good hitters, 2 which have each put two balls over the fence (at 10u!). I think the whole team would be in the dumps if they are getting left on base everytime they get a hit. We have standings, tournaments, and trophies in our rec league, I translate that as winning is a good thing.