Last Night’s Little League Game - Another Romp

May I please make a suggestion? I’ve written about this before; about how my daughter’s LL team has outscored their opponents by more than 120 runs. Well, last night we played a team that could not hit, nor catch, or get out of an inning without us stepping of the bag. We could have played the entire game without them making an out (ok, that’s an exaggeration, but making three outs in an inning is not). We had to keep stepping off the bases to let them get back up to bat.

If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, let me explain. When a girl is on base, she cannot leave the base until the pitcher releases the ball to the batter. So, if you step off the bag before then, you are given an out. We kept having to do that because the other team could not get three outs on their own.

We’d have girls on base and someone would get a hit, and our coach only allowed the girls to advance one base, rather than running up the score. We won 17-0 in five innings. In Little League you have to play at least 5 innings (7 is a full game), and if you’re up by a certain number of runs that’s all you play.

My suggestion is to not start playing the game when you’re 13. Start when your 6 or 7, even 8. Otherwise your skills are so far behind kids who have been playing since they were 6, 7, or 8 that you will never catch up. There just isn’t time. You can play Little League, but you will never win a game if all your kids are playing against girls who have played for several years. And you can play in Junior High, but you will not get to play High School ball where you have to try out.

These kinds of games are no fun for the girls who know how to play, and I can’t understand how they can be fun for the girls who are losing every game.

Softball takes a lot of hard work to be good; there are lots of skills to be learned - how to hit, catch, and run the bases; how to field the ball, where to throw the ball once you’ve fielded it; how to defend against a bunt; how to bunt, etc. etc.

Start your child playing at a young age if you want them to gain the skills they’ll need to play at a competitive level, please - for everyone’s sake.