OT - Cool Little League Action Photos

[Rob L]

Hey all,

Way off topic here, but I had a couple of cool photos given to me of my daughter playing on her Little League team. She is only girl in the league and is playing in the Minor A division. Let's see your photos!!

[ironmanfan]

Great batting form!!

[harpt]

That is so cool Rob. My son had his first t-ball game this weekend. Very neat stuff.

[frikativ54]

Great photos! How old is your daughter? That's awesome that she's playing baseball. I wish that there were girls baseball, because as a female, I think of softball as kind of an insult. Why should girls have to throw underhanded?

Way to go! Keep encouraging your daughter! Nice uniforms, BTW!

-Leslie

[Rob L]

Thanks. My daughter is 8 years old. She refuses to play softball for the very reasons that Leslie mentioned, pitching underhand is not baseball. She is having a great time, went 4-4 on Saturday with 3 RBIs. The division she is in machine pitch, however, the kids get to pitch the 5th and 6th innings. She has pitched one inning so far, struck out two and walked none. She pitches again on Wednesday evening.

My 13 year old son hung up the cleats after 7 years of playing so it's fun to start over again with my daughter.

[jboosted92]

Thanks. My daughter is 8 years old. She refuses to play softball for the very reasons that Leslie mentioned, pitching underhand is not baseball. She is having a great time, went 4-4 on Saturday with 3 RBIs. The division she is in machine pitch, however, the kids get to pitch the 5th and 6th innings. She has pitched one inning so far, struck out two and walked none. She pitches again on Wednesday evening.

My 13 year old son hung up the cleats after 7 years of playing so it's fun to start over again with my daughter.

Great opportunity to show my wife that girls can play at that level ( i have a 3 year old girl )

also a great oppurtunity to get the tagging on those jerseys, so if she becomes the first prof. female MLB player we know its GU for sure! HA

[Rob L]

A professional photographer was at my daughters game tonite and took a cool photo of her pitching. I guess that is grip is what could be considered an 8 year old four seamer!!!

[ironmanfan]

Looks more like a Palm Ball....:)

Great Pic!

[Rob L]

Looks more like a Palm Ball....:)

Great Pic!

Maybe an attempt at a circle change. Speed would be right for a Palm Ball or Change up :D

[skyking26]

Interesting that is topic was brought up. My son has been playing LL since he could, and is currently an 11 year old pitcher/2nd baseman in Marysville MI. Monday he came in in relief and got the other team 1-2-3. Next inning he got the first 2 guys and then walked 2. I thought about removing him but he got 2 quick strikes on the #4 hitter so I left him in. Next pitch was a line drive to the head...

After a hospital stay and catscan, he is back in school. This brings certain questions into play. Obviously the pitcher is in a very vulnerable position especially with aluminum bats. Should they be wearing headgear? Should a certain age group be using wood instead of aluminum? Last year an adult 1st base coach in TX was killed by a line drive. Thoughts??

[ahuff]

Interesting that is topic was brought up. My son has been playing LL since he could, and is currently an 11 year old pitcher/2nd baseman in Marysville MI. Monday he came in in relief and got the other team 1-2-3. Next inning he got the first 2 guys and then walked 2. I thought about removing him but he got 2 quick strikes on the #4 hitter so I left him in. Next pitch was a line drive to the head...

After a hospital stay and catscan, he is back in school. This brings certain questions into play. Obviously the pitcher is in a very vulnerable position especially with aluminum bats. Should they be wearing headgear? Should a certain age group be using wood instead of aluminum? Last year an adult 1st base coach in TX was killed by a line drive. Thoughts??

Oh my word. First, I'm glad to hear that your son is out of the hospital, and I pray everything is alright, and hope that doesn't make him always fearful of the ball. . .though I don't know if I would ever recover from that.

I've for years thought that aluminum bats should be banned. Of course, good luck getting that through the bat manufacturer lobbiests. O.k. - Get away from the safety aspect, which both sides tend to have stats to prove their case. This doesn't roll off my tongue well - I honestly can't think of another sport where it is encouraged to use tools that significantly enhance play. Baseball bats are the only one I can think of. If the professionals can't use the aluminum bats, then why should we teach kids with something drastically different. Then, we send the guys that are deemed to be "professionals" to the minors so they can relearn to hit with wood? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I've played soccer, and the tools we used were the same as the pros. My family has all played basketball, and I can't recall the last time someone was allowed to wear special shoes that would allow them to slam it over an opponent at the age of 10. I've never played football, so I can't speak for that. However, the teams that practice by my house sure don't seem to have anything special. My son tried hockey, and he didn't have any equipment that the pros couldn't use (they even used wood sticks and regular hockey skates). So why is it an accepted practice to allow aluminum bats into little league games. I don't care what the stats say, the ball jumps off of an aluminum bat. The sweet spot is larger, and it seems that the bat speed is drastically reduced. Anyone that has played knows it. If it wasn't the case, I would have certainly seen a wood bat used at somepoint during my little league games or recreational softball leagues.

[Rob L]

Interesting that is topic was brought up. My son has been playing LL since he could, and is currently an 11 year old pitcher/2nd baseman in Marysville MI. Monday he came in in relief and got the other team 1-2-3. Next inning he got the first 2 guys and then walked 2. I thought about removing him but he got 2 quick strikes on the #4 hitter so I left him in. Next pitch was a line drive to the head...

After a hospital stay and catscan, he is back in school. This brings certain questions into play. Obviously the pitcher is in a very vulnerable position especially with aluminum bats. Should they be wearing headgear? Should a certain age group be using wood instead of aluminum? Last year an adult 1st base coach in TX was killed by a line drive. Thoughts??

Wow, glad to hear your son is okay. It's an interesting question. Last year, my son was in his last year in majors. We were batting when one of our batters hit a line drive up the middle and hit the pitcher a 1/4" below his temple. He went down hard but remained conscious. After sitting down for about 10 minutes or so, he began to vomit which is when the paramedics arrived. He ended up in the hospital overnight with a concussion but played against us 4 days later. It's a very vunerable position, particularly in AAA and the majors divisions. The kids do move back to 60.5 feet in Juniors. We currently have a big kid on my daughters team that is using a Rawlings Big Stick that is LL approved. He hits the ball harder with that bat then with an aluminum bat. I think alot of it has to do with the way the bats are manufactured. These thin-walled bats are a bit scary and the manufacurers are always trying to improve the performance of the ball off of these bats.

On another note, the distance to the pitching mound is too close for the majors division. My son, who recently quit playing, was one of the big pitchers in our league. He could pitch from a 3/4 arm slot to a submarine position and was accurate. We ended up giving the catcher a sign for one of four pitches he threw as well as the location. He was hitting the mid-60s when he was 10. One game, we called for a side-armed fastball inside. He ended up drilling a kid in the ribs and cracking one of them. It sounded like a wood bat snapping when it hit him. Fortunately the kid was able to continue playing in the game (BTW, the next batter was so shaken by what happened that my son threw a curve and 2 fastballs by him for the K). Anyways, they say that throwing 60 from 45 feet away gives the batter a similar reaction time as the professionals have. I think the kids are a bit to young to have to deal with that kind of reaction time. I guess it's just fortunate that more kids are injured these days.

[skyking26]

Oh my word. First, I'm glad to hear that your son is out of the hospital, and I pray everything is alright, and hope that doesn't make him always fearful of the ball. . .though I don't know if I would ever recover from that.

I've for years thought that aluminum bats should be banned. Of course, good luck getting that through the bat manufacturer lobbiests. O.k. - Get away from the safety aspect, which both sides tend to have stats to prove their case. This doesn't roll off my tongue well - I honestly can't think of another sport where it is encouraged to use tools that significantly enhance play. Baseball bats are the only one I can think of. If the professionals can't use the aluminum bats, then why should we teach kids with something drastically different. Then, we send the guys that are deemed to be "professionals" to the minors so they can relearn to hit with wood? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I've played soccer, and the tools we used were the same as the pros. My family has all played basketball, and I can't recall the last time someone was allowed to wear special shoes that would allow them to slam it over an opponent at the age of 10. I've never played football, so I can't speak for that. However, the teams that practice by my house sure don't seem to have anything special. My son tried hockey, and he didn't have any equipment that the pros couldn't use (they even used wood sticks and regular hockey skates). So why is it an accepted practice to allow aluminum bats into little league games. I don't care what the stats say, the ball jumps off of an aluminum bat. The sweet spot is larger, and it seems that the bat speed is drastically reduced. Anyone that has played knows it. If it wasn't the case, I would have certainly seen a wood bat used at somepoint during my little league games or recreational softball leagues.
I agree, I think they should use wood from the get go. You would not believe the stupid responses I fielded in emails yesterday. The league head actually told me that Erik was asked on the mound if he was ok - when he responded yes the ump looked at me and asked if I had another pitcher. And an 11 year old boy with a head injury is supposed to answer properly? Is he for real? People just do not think... He has an appointment tonight with regular doc. I would like one more test, an MRI...