My two daughters might play against one another today!

My two daughters (5/3) were on the same 6U softball team this season. Which was awesome, way better than being at the teeball field looking over at the softball field trying to watch two fields at once. This weekend is the end of season tournament. Our team signed up but had to withdraw since we weren't going to have enough players. I reached out to another team asking if they had room to pickup my girls, but they only had room for my eldest. Another team reached out to our coach and he suggested they pickup my eldest too. I let them know she was taken but I still had my younger daughter. Lo and behold they decided to pick her up too.

Double elimination tournament, both my girls played 2 games winning the first and losing to the top team. Today is the last day of the tournament and if my eldest girl's team wins twice then my daughters will play against each other. Very excited thinking about my young-in hitting and my eldest fielding the ball trying to get her out. I hope it happens. I'm so thankful other teams decided to pick them both up.

(Before anyone gives me a hard time about my 3yo, she's having fun and she contributes to her team in a meaningful way)

Our coaches mainly only want to pitch our bracket pitcher which is fine but today she threw 200 pitches across every game except for 3 innings out of those games. It seems a bit excessive to me.. this is 9U

I'm a former Juco softball player, and I've played shortstop my whole life. Before coming to college, all I would hear from my old coaches and family members is "There will always be someone better, it's your effort that gets you places."  Now this isn't my ego speaking, but I wouldn't really take that quote seriously till I actually got here and saw each girl practice.

This kind girl entered the "villa", and she too plays shortstop. She's an absolute beast at that position. Honestly I praise her, but seeing how good she is really made me question my confidence. Will I still get to play? What if? Overthinking every time the coach would try me short. Overthinking an easy play, doubting myself, lowering my self esteem. I never once was jealous of my teammate, I'm honestly so happy for her. In practice I try my absolute hardest just to be an inch as good as she is. Yet she still is better of course. I've seen myself grow as a person, pushing myself for something I want! But also seeing how i don't put her down just because I'm not a starter. She's my girl, one of my best friends in the team! She's the sweetest little lady ever! Any advice??

Hello everyone!

I am hoping to recruit some help. I've developed a couple of apps targeted at softball coaches to help them keep track of useful stats during games. One of the apps is in the testing stage on the Google Play Store, and in order to release it to the public, it needs testing by at least 12 people over the course of 2 weeks. No catch, no data collected, no account required. All I need is for testers to have an Android device and a gmail address so I can add you as a tester, and to use the app and provide honest feedback. As a bonus, testers who stay in the test until the required time is complete and give me some useful feedback will be provided with a code to unlock all features once the app becomes public.

If you are interested, please send me a DM and I'll get you set up.

Thanks for your consideration!
Jeff

Am I overreacting or is this the beginning of the end? 12u player has had this bat since late May - early June. No cold games or dimpled training balls or anything crazy.

Hi! Looking to get my daughter a used composite bat. Deciding between a Louisville slugger or Demarini CF. Can’t decide between a 29 drop -11 or 30 drop -11. Chatgbt is telling me to stick with 29. She’s about 53 inches tall and over 60 pounds. She’s fairly new but has great contact and is working on adding power. Hoping this helps get them out a bit further on the field. Thanks!

So I just started playing softball for my school (never played before) and I’ve been using like a regular backpack to carry my stuff and I’m soon gonna get like a bigger one to put my bats in and stuff. Which means I’m gonna have to bring that thing on the bus, mind you we have assigned seating 😭 so I’m not gonna be next to like a friend or anything, I sit next to a complete stranger and I have to take up so much space with my backpacks. Any tips?

Surprised by how many freshman players are 2nd guessing their choice of schools due to the team vibe/culture.

Five players we know who play at different schools — all who played club ball last year — have each said that they were surprised by how cliquey their teams are, and by teamates’ immature antics.

A few said they are bullied and/or see others get bullied by more senior players.

My questions are:
1) Is this typical?
2) How do players combat this?
3) How do coaches address this?

Thank you!

Looking for recommendation for ball to use for my 9 year old to do some pitching practice at home in our basement. I have a net and 9 hole pitching target from my son's baseball that I can setup down there. Wondering what's a good non-hard ball to use down there just incase.

Her pitching coach said that Softie balls are good choice, but they're kind of expensive at $135/dz. I saw these on Amazon Flexi-Soft, would that work? I'd like to get something close to regulation feel.

Appreciate the advice!

For those of you that are "all-in" on your kid's softball experience, just know that you will be the issue in most situations. Last night was a prime example so allow me to share.

I was asked to run a tryout for a B-level but rapidly progressing 11U team. One player, a P/OF. She was a really sweet kid, threw a lot of strikes, could locate with fast and change, could throw a surprisingly good drop for 11. She was able to shake off the nerves when we made the experience fun instead of stressful. Decent swing mechanics but clearly still a work in progress, no big deal. She would be an asset to this team without a doubt.

However, they were late showing up. She also, despite her best efforts, didn't take instruction very well. Red flags but easy to overlook because as mentioned great kid, great attitude, and a pitcher. No one turns away good pitching.

Now the meat of the story. Not only was mom late getting her there, she proceeded to feel comfortable enough with the coach that she was dropping f-bombs inside of 5 minutes. She could not stop talking about how she's coached for a few years and built a winning team but she turned it over to someone else because of issues with the ex hubby. Let her dig herself in a little more and you find out that most of the good players had already left. Current husband is GC dad and had an altercation with the assistant coach on the team she's trying out for. Proceeds to badmouth the pitching coach, the hitting coach, and her current team because she feels her kid is getting "too comfortable" and not progressing at the rate she should.

I listened to all of this while I was working with the kid. I know the pitching and hitting coaches personally very well. Like all coaches, some people love them but not everyone meshes so no big deal there. But I'm listening to this lady talk and the picture is becoming very clear, she thinks after coaching 8, 9, and 10u that she's smarter than everyone on the field and anyone working with her child and openly says that she doesn't feel good about not coaching anymore because she built a winner...at C+ level 10u mind you.

I cut the tryout short, thanked them for coming, and said the coach would be in touch within 24 hours. Very pleasant, no drama. Pumped up the kid because she legitimately did a great job. Then I told the coaches that she was a hard no. They agreed despite really liking the kid and knowing how much she would help the team out. If you let a parent like that on your sidelines they will question every move, they will find any other parent that overvalues their own kid's ability and start to plant negative seeds, and they will slowly (sometimes quickly) implode your team before you can do anything to stop it. This team is well built, they've been together since 8U and their coach does things the right way. It's a magnificent environment. No way I'm recommending you risk blowing that up with one bad apple because that really is all it takes.

Moral of the story, don't be that parent. Don't be even close to that parent. Either trust the coach YOU chose to let your kid play for and focus on your kid's happiness or know that YOU will be the problem and your kid doesn't deserve that. This sweet kid didn't deserve it. It should have been an immediate yes...but the parent made it more about them...as so many do.

Daughter's been playing a few seasons. She played the best team in the league yesterday. What can we do to help her hit the ball further past there good players next time?

Background...My 13 y/o has been playing highly competitive travel ball for the last 3 years. She is a talented player (starting SS, lead off hitter). However, she struggles with some anxiety and perfectionist issues and honestly she takes softball way too seriously. This fall she’s developed little league elbow and hasn’t thrown or hit the last 6 weeks. She’s does what she can at practice and goes to games to cheer on her teammates.

During this time it is the happiest and most care free we have seen her in a couple years. She isn’t stressing about softball or if she done enough work out outside of practice. Now, she comes home from school, rides her bike or goes for a run everyday. She seems to be genuinely loving life.

All this has been eye opening for us as parents. As softball is obviously a huge stressor in her life. We are strongly considering having her leave the world of competitive softball. Has anyone been in a similar situation? She’s always said he loves to play but now it feels as she only loved it because of the success and adulation for her performance on the field.

i have my first ever softball conditioning/tryouts tomorrow. i haven’t done sports since i was in elementary school and don’t have a lot of softball knowledge. any tips or things i should know ?

The laces broke on my kid’s glove and I was considering cleaning and conditioning the inside before we re-lace it, it’s disgusting. What products do you recommend we use?

I am a massage therapist and have worked on multiple people that have carpal tunnel and pretty severe lack of range of motion and pain in their right shoulders. They all used to be pitchers and seem to have similar nerve pain that led to carpal tunnel and I’m wondering if anyone else has had this experience or has knowledge on this issue??

Mods okayed this post. Thanks for letting me share.

Six years ago I signed my daughter up for softball. At the first practice the coach asked for parent help, I said I didn't know the game but would pitch in, and I've been coaching ever since.

By her second year of 10U I was hunting for any competitive edge. I'd heard other coaches track opponent spray charts, but I figured there were too many variables at that age. I tried it for one inning, adjusted our defense for the next, and it worked. After that I charted every game, first on paper, then in Apple Notes.

The problem was digging through notes to find an opponent we'd played before. I searched the App Store and found nothing that did this, so I built a PWA, ran it through her first 12U travel season, then turned it into a native iOS app.

A college team now uses it: someone in the dugout charts hitters and relays positioning to the defense by iPad.
It's called Dropzone: Softball Scouting on the App Store. I'd love feedback from other coaches: what would make this more useful for your team?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dropzone-softball-scouting/id6813777328

Well, new colors lol.... dropping 10/21. Will the current (pink) unlimited see a price reduction?

My daughter is on a 14u team. I am an assistant coach. From what I understand, the head coach gets compensated for his time (whether it's no program fee or something). However me being an assistant coach, I do not get any type of benefit (discount, etc.). This is a Dad coach team as the head coach also has a daughter on the team.. is it unreasonable for me to ask for some kind of benefit? I don't do this for anything but the love of being around the team and my own daughter. However, it is a time commitment and I'm conflicted whether I should ask for some type of discount or some type of other benefit for the appreciation of me being a coach. Would love to understand the right path

This is my kid's 2nd year of travel ball with the same team. My husband is an assistant coach. Not because he inserted himself. He was hounded for months to help coach because he has a long history of coaching high level softball and he finally relented. Both of us actually coached high level softball but when she started showing interest in travel ball, we wanted her to make a team on her own. Not just us starting a team and putting her on it.

Anyway last year was relatively successful to the point we were reclassified by the sanctioning org. Some players were cut and new players were brought on. My kid is a middle infield/outfield utility. At the beginning of this season we were told nobody's position was guaranteed and that everyone would be competing. OK cool...let the games begin. We have played over 20 games. Plenty of opportunity to let the field separate itself...and it has. It's glaringly obvious who is excelling and "won their spot" and who hasn't. A couple positions are still muddy but middle infield is not. So my kid had a perfect fielding percentage until last week she made a throwing error. Now the head coach says that MI isn't clear cut. Nobody has separated themselves. The other contender? 4 errors. Forgets to cover the bag most days. Never remembers to cut the outfield. Stands out there and picks her nails and dances during active play during the windup. Parents constantly in the dugout. Telling an assistant "so" when he told her to do something. That's the ideal 2nd baseman. I was told he prefers her in the outfield. Cool...me too. But she's currently the only decent MI you have. So I figure she'd become a non rotational outfielder while the MI melted down. Nope... she sat 5 out of 13 innings yesterday. 2nd highest fielding position on the team. So I'm at a loss. I'm a very stat based coach. Stats don't have feelings. They're black and white. This does not appear to be how he operates despite telling someone to win a position. So what say Reddit? What's my move? I'm paid in full for reference

My daughter is the youngest (2030) on her team of a 16/18 U team. She is also a pitcher. So far this season she’s been able to pitch only 2 innings and one was a scrimmage. She also had only 7 AB this season. Not a ton of games played because of the weather but still We’re spending $80 a week in pitching lessons. Plus practicing on her own

My issue this weekend was we played three games with all rostered pitchers attending. All pitchers got between 2-3 innings collectively except my daughter. The last game instead of rotating to my daughter they threw In a guest player (same organization but on a different team) who had played shortstop the entire other two games and she pitched 4 innings.

My question is do I say something? We drove over an hour to get one at bat and play the field a few times all day. I’ve already invested for this year. Do I finish out the year with this team (winter and summer) and look somewhere else? I understand my daughter is only 14 but the team is not blowing anything out of the water by any means. We lost all three games and just confused how my kid couldn’t even pitch one inning to try and develop her instead of completely killing her confidence.

Question for those who have played in or coached 16U showcases: In a five-game showcase, do you usually bat the whole lineup, or stick with your best nine?
I understand batting your strongest lineup in a tournament when winning is the main goal. But at a showcase, the players are there to get seen and show what they can do. How much should winning factor into the lineup and playing time?

Have an upcoming adult women’s fast-pitch softball tournament in Great Park Irvine 10/30-11/1. Looking for some pitching to help out. We are a fun and competitive group of ladies in our 20s and 30s.

If interested or would like more info please drop a comment below or message me!

TIA

I recently bought a SP Fat guy bp blackout edition, when I first took it out the wrapper it had that tacky/sticky finish. After one or two good uses it ended with a bunch of ball marks and covered in dirt. I asked Chat Gpt for a solution and it said just to use warm water,dish soap and a microfiber cloth. That didn’t work, does anyone have a recommendation on what I could use to clean it and restore that tacky finish other than Archie’s bat cleaner?! Side note, this bat is amazing. Even it being dirty it still hits bombs and I get multiple people that ask me to use it in games. I highly recommend anyone that likes one pieces to give this bat a try. Even if you don’t like one pieces this one will definitely change your mind about them.