- Aug 12, 2014
- 648
- 43
My daughter was dropped by her team over the summer, and I think it's the best thing that could have happened for her. To give some background, she started playing 8U two years ago in the fall. She was supposed to move up in the spring, but I was able to get the league to let her play down. She really wasn't ready for 10U, plus she had great coaches I wanted her to stay with. She moved up to 10U last fall on a new team. The team was pretty good and made a great run in the playoffs and finished second (the champion was a TB team that had no business being in a rec league).
My daughter wanted to pitch, so I got her some lessons prior to the season and through the first few weeks. The team had one pitcher who was pretty good and a couple of others who also had some experience. The coaches let my daughter my daughter pitcher one inning late in the season, and it was a disaster, to be blunt. She only threw a handful of strikes and went to coach pitch on every hitter, and they hit the 6 run max. Her hitting and fielding improved quite a bit over the season (I started a hitting thread about her lack of power, but she makes good contact).
She stayed on the same team this spring. The good pitcher became a full-blown stud, and two other pitchers improved a bit as well. My daughter gave up on pitching because she knew she was never going to get into a game. The coaches were becoming more competitive even though we were still playing rec, so they were riding the ace as much as they could. We ended up winning the midseason tournament and the final championship with an overall record of 16-2 or something like that. My daughter continued to improved, but definitely wasn't one of the better players on the team. There were 5 or 6 girls that were definitely a cut above everyone else. The competitiveness was getting a bit too much, IMO, by the end of the season. She'd make a bad play at first and she wouldn't play there again for two or three games. And there was one game where my she she made an error and they switched her to the OF in the middle of the inning. The HC did apologize to me about it the next day.
The league is affiliated with Babe Ruth and put together an all-star team to play in the state tournament. Our coaches were the coaches and 6 or 7 of the players were from our team. They won state easily and went on to regionals and won that as well. In between state and regionals, HC emailed me to say that they were combining with another team to play comp in the fall, and my daughter was being dropped from the team. This was after he had made sure I had registered her for the fall season back in June. He did make sure that she got on another team for the fall through the same club. I saw him a couple of weeks ago and from what he said, it sounded like only 3 other girls were dropped. He said if they have any openings in the spring that they'll give my daughter first shot at making the team, but I don't see that happening.
Now to get to the good part. Our new team started playing last week. It turns out I had actually met the HC at a camp my daughter went to over the summer (his daughters went as well, along with a couple of other girls on the team). The team has some pretty good players along with a couple who have never played before. I'd say my daughter is in the upper half. Being on a new team, my daughter thought maybe she'd have a chance to pitch, so we started practicing a bit before practice started. There are a couple of other girls with some pitching experience but none of them are studs. We only had one practice before the first two games, but my daughter did well enough for the coach to give her a shot.
I was not optimistic because she hadn't thrown off a rubber or to live batters since the disaster last fall, and she was struggling quite a bit when we practiced. I'd say maybe 1/3 of the pitchers were in the vicinity of the strikezone and I was chasing balls all over the yard. The coach put her in the third inning of the first game - we had a 14-1 lead so there was no pressure. Somehow it all came together. She struck out two - both on called strikes, not hitters chasing bad pitches - and didn't allow a run. It was amazing. Even most of the balls were reasonably close.
Practicing with her this week was like catching a completely different pitcher. Almost all the pitchers were close and maybe one or two per session would get by me. They played two more games this weekend and she did well enough that the coach let her pitch two innings each game. I was out of town so I didn't see them, and we haven't had practice yet so I haven't talked to the coach.
The best part is how enthusiastic she is about practicing now. She wants to go out and pitch every day because she's finally getting a chance. And she's more confident in the field because she knows if she makes a bad play she's not going to get pulled. She's gotten a big boost from being one of the better players on the team. The coach asked her if she wanted to try catching - which she's never had any interest in before - and she's going to give it a shot. I think she feels proud that the coach thinks she can do it.
Anyway, after writing this book, my point is that getting dropped by her old team might be the best thing that happened to her. She definitely improved a lot on her old team and held her own with some really good players, but she's already gotten a lot of opportunities on her new team that she was never going to get.
My daughter wanted to pitch, so I got her some lessons prior to the season and through the first few weeks. The team had one pitcher who was pretty good and a couple of others who also had some experience. The coaches let my daughter my daughter pitcher one inning late in the season, and it was a disaster, to be blunt. She only threw a handful of strikes and went to coach pitch on every hitter, and they hit the 6 run max. Her hitting and fielding improved quite a bit over the season (I started a hitting thread about her lack of power, but she makes good contact).
She stayed on the same team this spring. The good pitcher became a full-blown stud, and two other pitchers improved a bit as well. My daughter gave up on pitching because she knew she was never going to get into a game. The coaches were becoming more competitive even though we were still playing rec, so they were riding the ace as much as they could. We ended up winning the midseason tournament and the final championship with an overall record of 16-2 or something like that. My daughter continued to improved, but definitely wasn't one of the better players on the team. There were 5 or 6 girls that were definitely a cut above everyone else. The competitiveness was getting a bit too much, IMO, by the end of the season. She'd make a bad play at first and she wouldn't play there again for two or three games. And there was one game where my she she made an error and they switched her to the OF in the middle of the inning. The HC did apologize to me about it the next day.
The league is affiliated with Babe Ruth and put together an all-star team to play in the state tournament. Our coaches were the coaches and 6 or 7 of the players were from our team. They won state easily and went on to regionals and won that as well. In between state and regionals, HC emailed me to say that they were combining with another team to play comp in the fall, and my daughter was being dropped from the team. This was after he had made sure I had registered her for the fall season back in June. He did make sure that she got on another team for the fall through the same club. I saw him a couple of weeks ago and from what he said, it sounded like only 3 other girls were dropped. He said if they have any openings in the spring that they'll give my daughter first shot at making the team, but I don't see that happening.
Now to get to the good part. Our new team started playing last week. It turns out I had actually met the HC at a camp my daughter went to over the summer (his daughters went as well, along with a couple of other girls on the team). The team has some pretty good players along with a couple who have never played before. I'd say my daughter is in the upper half. Being on a new team, my daughter thought maybe she'd have a chance to pitch, so we started practicing a bit before practice started. There are a couple of other girls with some pitching experience but none of them are studs. We only had one practice before the first two games, but my daughter did well enough for the coach to give her a shot.
I was not optimistic because she hadn't thrown off a rubber or to live batters since the disaster last fall, and she was struggling quite a bit when we practiced. I'd say maybe 1/3 of the pitchers were in the vicinity of the strikezone and I was chasing balls all over the yard. The coach put her in the third inning of the first game - we had a 14-1 lead so there was no pressure. Somehow it all came together. She struck out two - both on called strikes, not hitters chasing bad pitches - and didn't allow a run. It was amazing. Even most of the balls were reasonably close.
Practicing with her this week was like catching a completely different pitcher. Almost all the pitchers were close and maybe one or two per session would get by me. They played two more games this weekend and she did well enough that the coach let her pitch two innings each game. I was out of town so I didn't see them, and we haven't had practice yet so I haven't talked to the coach.
The best part is how enthusiastic she is about practicing now. She wants to go out and pitch every day because she's finally getting a chance. And she's more confident in the field because she knows if she makes a bad play she's not going to get pulled. She's gotten a big boost from being one of the better players on the team. The coach asked her if she wanted to try catching - which she's never had any interest in before - and she's going to give it a shot. I think she feels proud that the coach thinks she can do it.
Anyway, after writing this book, my point is that getting dropped by her old team might be the best thing that happened to her. She definitely improved a lot on her old team and held her own with some really good players, but she's already gotten a lot of opportunities on her new team that she was never going to get.
