HELP!!!! 10U Infield positioning and Batting Lineup

[canyonjoe]

I'm not a fan of swinging at the swinging at anything approach. For every kid who takes strike 3 on a marginal pitch I see three of them swing at a pitch at their eyes or in the dirt. I will sometimes do a BP where I ask them to swing at everything, but even then the really good hitters still won't swing at awful pitches.

Not swinging at bad pitches is not the same as looking for a walk.

 

[JJsqueeze]

If they are swinging the bat freely then it is time to reel them in, but if they are up there doing that 10 year old statue thing, then swinging away at anything is the order of the day. Saw a girl get in the box the other day, raise her bat and stand there the entire time in that position, took 3 or 4 pitches without moving a muscle...meanwhile the other side is yelling good eye as she let balls and strike go by her, she eventually go hit on the foot and still stood there with the bat up in her hitting stance for about 5-6 seconds until she realized she was supposed to take a base.

A girl like this should never hear anything but "swing the bat".

 

[BobInMadison]

If they are swinging the bat freely then it is time to reel them in, but if they are up there doing that 10 year old statue thing, then swinging away at anything is the order of the day. Saw a girl get in the box the other day, raise her bat and stand there the entire time in that position, took 3 or 4 pitches without moving a muscle...meanwhile the other side is yelling good eye as she let balls and strike go by her, she eventually go hit on the foot and still stood there with the bat up in her hitting stance for about 5-6 seconds until she realized she was supposed to take a base.

A girl like this should never hear anything but "swing the bat".

OK, so can we agree that every kid is different, and sometimes different styles need to be used for kids?

As far as statues, when DD #3 pitched in her first tournament, 10U, she was by far the fastest pitcher in her age group but wild. I think she hit a batter early her first game, and after that, the girls on the other team would just get as far back in the box as they possibly could, cower, and hope not to get struck out.

Or, I've seen girls who had to be told not to swing at pitches over their heads or in the dirt.



I am worried because my DD #2, who has NEVER played a softball game, is threatening to play no-cut freshman ball this spring. (She will need to make a decision very soon, and my guess is she will not.) She swings at EVERYTHING! It is so strange for a girl whose sisters are so good at laying off the bad pitches to behave that way. If she does play freshman SB this spring, she will need to learn to be a lot more selective.