Restoring a pitchers confidence

[ArkFastpitch]

I have a 10u TB pitcher, who up until fall was a stud on the rubber. We played in a couple tough tournaments with a couple "keyhole umpires". She struggled in both tourneys to hit the strike zone. I could tell it was bothering her quite a bit afterwards. I tried talking to he and trying to reassure her she was a good pitcher and an asset to the team. Since then she has been on a downward slide. She has been struggling with control and tried to pull back her velocity to steer the ball over the plate. Needless to say she got rocked pretty good in a few games. I have tried to explain to her that she is young and will have many ups and downs. I talked her PC and he has assured me that they have isolated mechanical break down. I believe she has lost her confidence. What else can I do to help her? Is it something I should just let work itself out?

 

[humpty]

A lot of pressure comes with being a pitcher. Focus on her strengths. Is she throwing good in practice?

 

[ArkFastpitch]

She throws decent in practice. Still nowhere near where she was in the Spring. She has lost quite a bit of speed and when she does throw hard its usually wild. I tried letting her start a couple games and told myself I was going to leave her in and work through her struggles. I had to pull her both games after several hit batters.

 

[Bucketmom]

When my DD is having confidence issues I will have pitch in a rec game or pick up with a 12u tourney team. DD is a 2000 so she can still play both.
I will also get her an extra pitching lesson.
DD pitched outstanding in sat game. Then sun was a mess I shot some vid of Sunday, sent to her PC to look at and we have a lesson tonight in addition to her usual Thursday night lesson.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

This process, of realizing you are not gods gift to pitching, needs to happen to all pitchers. Hopefully sooner than later.

I remember my DD facing the TN Fury one time (full of national D1 commits). It was a very sad moment in DD's pitching career to be handed yer lunch like that but I will go back to my broken-record statement. "What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger". This beat-down DD received she eventually got over (about a month & a half) AND she DID get stronger. In this case it gave her a much greater appreciation for exacting placement accuracy (before that she thought she could just mow-down batters).

I think getting into your pitchers head with "look,...even the best have been handed their lunch, time to time, but the WINNER learns and comes out on top." When she gets over the sting there has got to be some take-aways from that beating she took and true competitive pitchers will get right back into the circle in practice and work on those things that will make her better against that kind of competition next time. (It's a great learning process but ya have to let them initially get over the sting BUT not let them dwell...)