Totally Confused

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Funny.

The fastest speed I have seen personally at each age:

10U - 50/51
12U - 55/56
14U - 59/60
16U - not there yet, but assume 62ish

I have never seen a 12U girl even come close to 60. Mid 50s is the best and that was crazy fast. And I only saw 2 last year.

Realize having a girl in college who can throw high 60s is D1 material. Very few college pitchers have game speed at 70+, last year I only remember a couple. I love the speed discussion it really gets out of hand.

 

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I agree that at 12 you don't need to make a decision but I have not really seen many switch hitters in college softball.

My favorite is when in the younger age groups a kid will try to slap until they get 2 strikes and then move to the right side and strike out. Why not just stay on the left, maybe you actually get one in play and beat a throw. This always makes be laugh.

 

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I told my DD that even though she was throwing 70 mph at 12 years old it wasn't good enough until she could do it both right and left handed.

 

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Just as an aside, think about how revered the 70MPH figure seems in all fastpitch discussions these days. Now consider that most CHANGEUPS in the Major Leagues are in the mid-80s! Pitchers throwing mid-90s fastballs generally have 84 to 88MPH CHANGEUPS!

The skill and fearlessness of big league hitters can't be overrated. Consider also that as fast as it seems that Monica Abbott and other power pitchers in the women's game are throwing, their fastest pitches are the same speed as the top male pitchers' CHANGEUPS!

There were a number of hitters in the women's pro league this season who hit over .300. Hitting over .400 is not considered highly unusual. Against the top male pitchers, anyone who hits over .250 is Hall of Fame material. It is that difficult.

It's also a smaller ball which provides for faster rotation, more movement, higher speeds, and oh, It's a smaller ball.

 

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I'm not going to give the pitching speed thing any print because we all know that's a pile of you know what not worth stepping in.

I will have to agree with Lady Knight on the issue about switch hitters. This game favors the lefty so if any girl exhibits a talent to bat from the left side, there's no need to work on her hitting from the right. Put all your energy in perfecting the skills on the left side. A lefty batter that can swing away as well as bunt and slap will never be asked to get in the right side box if I'm the coach.

Just my opinion.

 

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Funny.

The fastest speed I have seen personally at each age:

10U - 50/51
12U - 55/56
14U - 59/60
16U - not there yet, but assume 62ish

I have never seen a 12U girl even come close to 60. Mid 50s is the best and that was crazy fast. And I only saw 2 last year.

Realize having a girl in college who can throw high 60s is D1 material. Very few college pitchers have game speed at 70+, last year I only remember a couple. I love the speed discussion it really gets out of hand.

Agree with most of the numbers here but saw firsthand lasers gray pitcher hit 59-60 as a 12u last summer.

 

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I really appreciate all of the support on this thread. My DD runs a 3.5 first base, not blazing but effective. Hopefully as she matures she will get quicker. The reason I have her switch is because she is right eye dominate. Therefor she sees the ball better from the left. She has more power from the right though. So depending on the pitcher and game situation determines how I decide to have her bat. It has been very effective for 3 years now. I guess this former D-III player never saw a 12u so versitile before. You should've saw her reaction to her pitching too. After the league was done we got a tunnel and pitched for a while. Even though my DD only hits 50 (unlike some 12u's that hit 70,lol) , she can place it pretty much where she wants it. With a curve,rise,screw,drop and a very nasty change, it kinda got the instructor's attention. I wonder if she saw this in D-III? To be honest with you, I really hope my DD can accomplish more than that.

Think about this long term. Assign her an arbitrary power number to each side of the plate. Lets say right now she's a 50 from the right side and a 35 from the left. Regardless of what you choose to do she probably need to increase her strength and bat speed from where she is now, to where she will be in 3 years. You could choose right now to put her on a path that would have her at 70 from the right and 55 from the left OR you could choose to put her on a path to be 75-80 from the left and no longer hitting from the right. If she sees the ball better from the left that should be a deal cincher for you because eventually it's going to be about making good contact with power when pitchers actually move the ball.

If you had the choice on offense to run 65 ft base paths versus 60 ft, would you choose to alternate between the two because variety is of value or would you consistantly choose to run the shorter base path? I'm still waiting to hear a compelling argument for batting from the right side given these conditions and I don't find "better power from the right" to be valid when talking about a kid this young because power is going to develop greatly over the next 3-4 years.

 

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On the right v. left deal:

I have a pretty fast natural lefty. She's probably the second or third fastest girl on her club ball team. 2nd fastest to first base. We're working on speed and agility this off season, with the idea of making her even more of a threat. But one of the first things I realized in this training is that her first two steps are EVERYTHING. And from the left side, those are hard and not very natural steps.

We'll make strides, pun intended, in this over the winter.

But to some degree batting from the left side is overrated. Right handers step naturally toward first. In my view, the difference to cover between a lefty slapper and a righty is usually only 3-4 feet. But the righty doesn't have to take turn of somewhere between 45 and 150 degrees.

I keep thinking: would Carl Lewis have taken the 3 (or 4 or 5) extra feet if he had to essentially turn around to start? I'm thinking no.

Now, I am happy to have everyone think that my daughter is the fastest thing on wheels. As in softball perception (just as in the case of fireball pitcher) actually means something, makes people change their game, etc.

 

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On the right v. left deal:

I have a pretty fast natural lefty. She's probably the second or third fastest girl on her club ball team. 2nd fastest to first base. We're working on speed and agility this off season, with the idea of making her even more of a threat. But one of the first things I realized in this training is that her first two steps are EVERYTHING. And from the left side, those are hard and not very natural steps.

We'll make strides, pun intended, in this over the winter.

But to some degree batting from the left side is overrated. Right handers step naturally toward first. In my view, the difference to cover between a lefty slapper and a righty is usually only 3-4 feet. But the righty doesn't have to take turn of somewhere between 45 and 150 degrees.

I keep thinking: would Carl Lewis have taken the 3 (or 4 or 5) extra feet if he had to essentially turn around to start? I'm thinking no.

Now, I am happy to have everyone think that my daughter is the fastest thing on wheels. As in softball perception (just as in the case of fireball pitcher) actually means something, makes people change their game, etc.

I don't agree with this. Simply, a right handed batter has rotation taking them away from first base during the swing. They must redirect the energy to head towards first base. While a left handed batter can use the momentum of the swing and continue towards first. The same principles are used in turning glove side to make a throw. If the girl is slow or has elephant feet it won't matter which side of the plate she is swinging from.

 

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I have to agree on hitting lefty. I started my DD at 12u on (the league team) hitting only lefty. She would run much faster coming from the left box then she would from the right side. Her second year of hitting lefty and only lefty both in league and travel, she has become a hugh asset to the team, bunting, slapping, drag bunt hitting for power etc. she was 3rd on the team in BA., OBP, Lowest strike outs and Sac.

So i say it makes little sense to bat righty any more if you can DO IT LEFTY.

 

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I'm not going to give the pitching speed thing any print because we all know that's a pile of you know what not worth stepping in.

I will have to agree with Lady Knight on the issue about switch hitters. This game favors the lefty so if any girl exhibits a talent to bat from the left side, there's no need to work on her hitting from the right. Put all your energy in perfecting the skills on the left side. A lefty batter that can swing away as well as bunt and slap will never be asked to get in the right side box if I'm the coach.

Just my opinion.

Agree! All things equal (read: proper training) a lefty will beat a righty every time. OBP is a valuable stat in the college game, and shaving home-to-first time is where it all starts.

 

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All valid points, but you got to love it when a slapper comes up in the bottom of the 7th with one down and a runner at third. She comes up going right handed and drives a ball to RF for a sac fooling everyone.

 

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On the right v. left deal:

I have a pretty fast natural lefty. She's probably the second or third fastest girl on her club ball team. 2nd fastest to first base. We're working on speed and agility this off season, with the idea of making her even more of a threat. But one of the first things I realized in this training is that her first two steps are EVERYTHING. And from the left side, those are hard and not very natural steps.

We'll make strides, pun intended, in this over the winter.

But to some degree batting from the left side is overrated. Right handers step naturally toward first. In my view, the difference to cover between a lefty slapper and a righty is usually only 3-4 feet. But the righty doesn't have to take turn of somewhere between 45 and 150 degrees.

I keep thinking: would Carl Lewis have taken the 3 (or 4 or 5) extra feet if he had to essentially turn around to start? I'm thinking no.

I tried floating that argument with a college coach that has a PhD in Kinesiology and for the reasons JDCII stated your wrong. Trying taking a running slap at a ball from the right side and see where your momentum takes you versus the left side.

I have found that if you time kids on a bunt from both sides who haven't done it before they come out fairly equal, however once you've practiced it enough the time difference on the left side starts to consistantly show up.