Pretty proud of DD - last night shows how far she's come...

[maksoftball]

Last year, being a freshman on predominantly senior varsity really did a number on her confidence and mental game.

Fall ball started last night, and they played 2 games...she got to pitch 4 innings (2 first game, 2 second), played 3B 2 innings of 2nd game. First game, 6 batters, 5 K, 0 ERA - she also went 2 for 2 with 2 singles, 1 SB; second game, 8 batters, no S/O, 1 unearned run, 1 earned run, but went 0 for 2 (they got her on change-ups...she hit them hard but missed the gaps).

2nd game doesn't sound like much...except it was one of the top 2 teams in the state of Texas (The Woodlands HS)...where more than half are committed to D1 schools. She was thrilled to have faced their #1 slapper/lead-off hitter (committed to University of Tennessee)...got her to hit a roller to 2B; faced their #4 hitter (committed to Baylor) - got her on a riseball - popped up to CF; faced who she considers a beast at the plate - didn't get her out but she stayed calm and composed. We lost 4-2 (the unearned run in first inning should have been an out...bad throw by 3B). Last year? We didn't even score, and we lost 12-0. In addition to the pitching, she made 2 awesome plays from 3B getting their speedy runners out.

Oh and the "volunteer" coach jumped on her for pitching a change up on 3-2 count. DD was confident enough in her pitching that doing that didn't phase her...and in doing so, she struck out the batter.

**volunteer coach - the HS coaches do not coach Fall ball...they recruit volunteer coaches (usually parents of players). The purpose of Fall ball is to scout the new freshmen and to see how the returning players have progressed.

 

[sleepwalker]

I had an opportunity to watch my dd pitch last weekend in college fall ball. I watched her throw a 3-1 change up that made a hitter look silly. She followed up with a 3-2 change up that struck the hitter out. I believe that pitchers have to be able to throw the ball in different locations and use different speeds to have success in pitching.

Have fun watching your dd pitch softball. They grow up so fast. Attend every game you can and be supportive.

Now that my dd has gone away to college, I am watching her grow "One game at a time".

 

[BobInMadison]

We tend to forget at times that players' improvement isn't linear, it has peaks and valleys and plateaus. The plateaus and valleys can be very frustrating, esp. when the player isn't really trying that hard. But, that makes the peaks all the more fun to see.

My DD #3 has been on a plateau for a while, starting to turn into a valley. Just in the past few days I've seen some signs of the determination that takes her up to the next peak. Just a few glimmers, but we'll see if she is ready for some climbing.

 

[josh]

We tend to forget at times that players' improvement isn't linear, it has peaks and valleys and plateaus. The plateaus and valleys can be very frustrating, esp. when the player isn't really trying that hard. But, that makes the peaks all the more fun to see.

Very true, and you never know when the improvement will come, my oldest couldn't throw in the fall season, and came back in the spring with an amazing arm, decided to try pitching and became the dominant pitcher in the league, then struggled with control at the very end of the spring, she more or less took the summer off, make a small change in her foot drive, and became so much better than anyone would have expected.

I think the other point I am trying to make is that both of her major improvements came with a little time off, between seasons when we weren't pushing hard. I am the type whose first instinct is to push push and fix it. But I'm trying to learn that sometimes its best to rest. (I'm Josh and I'm a workaholic)

Sometimes the step back is the best thing. I've previously posted about how she would have never started pitching if she hadn't been put in right field (for no good reason IMO, the prior season she made over 50% of the outs in the field.. solo, but she missed practice due to conflict with other activities, so they moved our best infielder to right field, this was a blessing in disguise)

 

[BobInMadison]

Very true, and you never know when the improvement will come, my oldest couldn't throw in the fall season, and came back in the spring with an amazing arm, decided to try pitching and became the dominant pitcher in the league, then struggled with control at the very end of the spring, she more or less took the summer off, make a small change in her foot drive, and became so much better than anyone would have expected.

I think the other point I am trying to make is that both of her major improvements came with a little time off, between seasons when we weren't pushing hard. I am the type whose first instinct is to push push and fix it. But I'm trying to learn that sometimes its best to rest. (I'm Josh and I'm a workaholic)

Sometimes the step back is the best thing. I've previously posted about how she would have never started pitching if she hadn't been put in right field (for no good reason IMO, the prior season she made over 50% of the outs in the field.. solo, but she missed practice due to conflict with other activities, so they moved our best infielder to right field, this was a blessing in disguise)

This makes a lot of sense.

DD #3 was working her tail off during the spring and summer. There were some days when, including a short pitching practice, she had 3 or 4 practices or games in the same day. She was always the fastest pitcher on her TB team, but during the summer went from about their #3 to their #1 pitcher, and the other pitchers were improving as well. She just really leapfrogged them.

I had been feeling a bit down about her play. She hasn't even seen her PC in about 2 months. She hasn't practiced pitching at all in almost 3 weeks. She and her TB team's #3 pitcher are on the same rec ball team, and each pitched one inning Monday. DD had 4 walks and 3Ks, giving up one run. Her friend struck out the side. DD just didn't seem as sharp as she was a few weeks ago. (Although part of that is a new glove and new cleats).

But, maybe she just needed some down time. Her PC saw her pitch a couple of innings recently in a rec ball game, and said DD "looked like she was having a lot of fun out there". He told me at some point she will want to practice more, and at some point she will work her tail off again. Just in the past few days I've seen more desire to practice. Winter comes early in these parts, that will give her a little time to improve.

And, if she really IS having fun, maybe she will WANT to practice.

 

[dbronstein]

And, if she really IS having fun, maybe she will WANT to practice.

This is the key to the whole thing. My daughter wanted to pitch last year so I got her some lessons to get her started. Then when the season started, it qiuckly became clear that she was never going to get a chance. The coaches never even had anyone pitch in practice, they just decided who the pitchers were and that was it. So naturally DD became pretty discouraged - pitching to Dad in the backyard gets old pretty quickly if it's not going to go anywhere.

She's on a new team this season and the coach made it clear at the first practice he'll give anyone a chance who shows the interest and willingness to put in the work. DD has pitched in almost every game and is doing really well. Now she wants to pitch with me almost everyday because it's fun.