They're too Big to play!

[Top_Notch]

As 8U we competed in a 10U C tournament. One of our girls was actually 6 years old but talented. She got to first base and was no taller than the belt of the first baseman. The first basemen was literally twice her size and probably more by weight. We won the game too.

We've never forfeited against girls much bigger, but I've worried more after seeing the size of competition at times.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

BTW thanks for fixing the spelling in the header.

I saw that this morning too !! Whoever did that. Thanks!

 

[coach james]

My team is currently playing in a fall league. We were 10u through the summer and are playing up to prep for next year. However, seems like over half the teams in this league are 2nd year 12's that definitely should be in a 14u division by now..... size and pitching speeds are significant!! We keep to our game plan and truck right along. If we get beat, we get beat, but hopefully the girls are growing in the experience.

 

[gophert]

16U girls have just as much trouble hitting a 35 mph outside dropping change-up as the rest of them. Ask my 86 lb 12 yr old pitcher DD how she knows. There is a fine line with playing up even in TB. As long as the team is competitive I think its a good thing.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Our 04 team found themselves in a game with some 02s a couple of weeks back. The size difference was striking. So was the score...10-1. We whooped em good. Here is DDs first AB. Third moved in because DD is not exactly big (note the size diff between her and the catcher). Next AB third covered the line and DD hit another double in the hole. Last AB she fired a liner to third that was too hot to handle for a third double. That third baseman will probably think twice about moving up on the small girls again.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj3XL3clZtc[/video]

Not super on topic but it gave me a good excuse to brag

 

[CPEM]

Our last 14U bracket game on Sunday was our '02s against a team of tall, athletic '00s that will need to move to 16U on January 1.

Why in the blue blazes is a team of '00s still playing 14u?

So my point is that the coach you described wants a nice W-L %age instead of progressing his/her girls by playing tough competition. Shame!

Ahhh.... that's why.

 

[csmda5]

This happened to my daughter her last 2 years of Little League, we had teams refusing to plays us. At 13 she is now 6' tall and still growing, she came out of the womb tall. However, she is not "thick", very athletic build. I've seen much smaller girls hit way harder than her as she is still learning how to connect her upper body with her lower body, lol.

I remember one of the games a "concerned mother" approached me about their fears. I told her "if I can fit you in my purse, my child is going to be bigger than yours". It sounds silly but it isn't easy growing up tall, people always think you're older and some times it just plain sucks. Softball isn't a contact sport and for most things, size doesn't really matter on the field.

 

[quincy]

Softball isn't a contact sport

, it is.

 

[csmda5]

, it is.

It's a "limited-contact sport" but contact is rare (nothing like soccer or football).

 

[canyonjoe]

I don't worry about size, but worry more about class mis-matches. If you take a rec all-star team and put them in a real A tournament it's a little scary as they have likely never had a ball hit that hard at them and certainly not by every hitter in the lineup. I get scared with coaches insist on playing the 3B 30 feet from the batter because that took the bunt away in rec. On our last team we had all 01-02's on it and we played a scrimmage this summer against an all 00 team. They out weighed us by 30-40 pounds a player but they were terrible. We stopped stealing after the 3rd batter and it was 8-0 before they got an out.