- May 27, 2013
- 2,577
- 113
Soupy, congratulations on your run - what an awesome achievement so far!!!
I wonder if those raining on your parade realize the pitching restrictions for LL ball at that age group? They are not easy games to win when a pitcher (if she pitches 3 or more innings in a game) has to have a full day's rest before being allowed to pitch again. It's not like TB tourneys where you can throw your #1 every single game/inning if you truly wanted to (not smart, but I know some who do throw one girl the majority of innings if she's cruising along). At the lower levels of the tourney (districts, mostly) where you are trying to get in so many games in a very short amount of time, many teams play games a few days in a row (we did), so we had to break our pitchers up into pitching 2 innings each game so each one could pitch in the game the next day. Obviously there is going to be that one dominant pitcher on a team, but you still need to have a few other decent pitchers you can spread out over the course of the game so that you can bring your #1 in for each game. It helps to keep things a little more fair that way IMHO, so that one team will not dominate the whole tournament run because they had that one amazing pitcher who led the entire team the whole way through. It's also sometimes not easy to get 3-4 decent pitchers on one LL team when you can only pull from your own town; unlike TB where you can pull from wherever you desire. Also, the girls on the LL All-Star team have the requirement to play in a certain percentage of games during the regular season so it's not like you can bring in ringers for the LL tourney who have only been playing "A" level TB all season long.
As far as the LL girls playing TB, it is a very, very common practice around here. Usually the LL's will also have a TB team affiliated with (or in a close relationship with) them in order to help better prepare their All-Star teams. Sometimes these TB teams will pull from surrounding towns, sometimes they will only pull from their own LL. They typically play in a handful of local "open" tournaments and some of them fare very well against "true" TB teams. It is great preparation for those girls for their All-Star run. It also provides a higher level of competition for those girls who are very talented, but whose families cannot afford the high costs that typically go hand-in-hand with TB teams. Many girls from our LL program to go on to play for true TB teams once they get past 12U, since that's when it seems many LL programs struggle to get enough girls to stick with the rec program.
As someone else mentioned, it is amazing how a town can come together and support a LL team. It is just an experience that I have never witness before until this year and it just blew me away.
OK, I'm stepping down from my soapbox now. Sorry for rambling on. I think both LL and TB have their place in the softball world - some of us are even lucky enough to experience both to see the two sides of the coin.
ETA: By the way, I'm assuming the team being discussed is the 12U team? I haven't been able to catch any of it on TV, but I know that is the age that is typically televised.
I wonder if those raining on your parade realize the pitching restrictions for LL ball at that age group? They are not easy games to win when a pitcher (if she pitches 3 or more innings in a game) has to have a full day's rest before being allowed to pitch again. It's not like TB tourneys where you can throw your #1 every single game/inning if you truly wanted to (not smart, but I know some who do throw one girl the majority of innings if she's cruising along). At the lower levels of the tourney (districts, mostly) where you are trying to get in so many games in a very short amount of time, many teams play games a few days in a row (we did), so we had to break our pitchers up into pitching 2 innings each game so each one could pitch in the game the next day. Obviously there is going to be that one dominant pitcher on a team, but you still need to have a few other decent pitchers you can spread out over the course of the game so that you can bring your #1 in for each game. It helps to keep things a little more fair that way IMHO, so that one team will not dominate the whole tournament run because they had that one amazing pitcher who led the entire team the whole way through. It's also sometimes not easy to get 3-4 decent pitchers on one LL team when you can only pull from your own town; unlike TB where you can pull from wherever you desire. Also, the girls on the LL All-Star team have the requirement to play in a certain percentage of games during the regular season so it's not like you can bring in ringers for the LL tourney who have only been playing "A" level TB all season long.
As far as the LL girls playing TB, it is a very, very common practice around here. Usually the LL's will also have a TB team affiliated with (or in a close relationship with) them in order to help better prepare their All-Star teams. Sometimes these TB teams will pull from surrounding towns, sometimes they will only pull from their own LL. They typically play in a handful of local "open" tournaments and some of them fare very well against "true" TB teams. It is great preparation for those girls for their All-Star run. It also provides a higher level of competition for those girls who are very talented, but whose families cannot afford the high costs that typically go hand-in-hand with TB teams. Many girls from our LL program to go on to play for true TB teams once they get past 12U, since that's when it seems many LL programs struggle to get enough girls to stick with the rec program.
As someone else mentioned, it is amazing how a town can come together and support a LL team. It is just an experience that I have never witness before until this year and it just blew me away.
OK, I'm stepping down from my soapbox now. Sorry for rambling on. I think both LL and TB have their place in the softball world - some of us are even lucky enough to experience both to see the two sides of the coin.
ETA: By the way, I'm assuming the team being discussed is the 12U team? I haven't been able to catch any of it on TV, but I know that is the age that is typically televised.
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