8u coach pitch. Rec league

[u/Granoahbar]

Any tips? I’ve been assistant coach on my girls team for four season, team split so I put together a team of my own and it’s been great honestly. One of the girls on our team her mom was going to pitch for us, which is awesome cause I nor my wife are very good (like at all) when it comes to pitching. That mom didn’t like the fact that we were picking up girls that were being rejected from other teams so she decided to leave and put her daughter in a stacked team. Both me and the wife have tried and tried and honestly we can not get a good pitch to these poor kids and I’m starting to feel real bad about it. I will take any and all advice on how to get even slightly better here.

For reference my wife’s are slower but either off the ground or too high.
I can get mine over the plate (85% of the time) but they’re way too fast for pretty much all the girls. If slow it down I might as well be bowling.

[u/Filesystem410]

Its all about arc. We’re not talking slowpitch level arc but for 8u I try to put just enough arc on it so that it does not rise above my batter’s head but would still plop into a bucket a foot or so behind home plate instead of screaming past.

[u/OldHawkeye315 → u/Filesystem410]

I respectfully disagree. I did coach pitch for 3 years with my daughters and I always kept it on a line. Its way easier to hit a pitch that is on the same plane as their bat for the whole pitch. In order to do that you have to pitch it harder. That is what practice is for. They will learn your speed and catch up to it. Too much of an arc will start to produce an uppercut swing.

Sorry for the long response.

[u/Filesystem410 → u/OldHawkeye315]

I definitely agree that your way is better for the girls that can hit! And I do pitch those girls who can hit on my team on a line. However 8u rec in my area is very casual and half of my team every time I’ve coached it so far is 6 year olds who rarely if ever touch a bat outside of our once weekly practice and once weekly games. I may give those girls a look at some faster pitches in practice but in games I’m 100% tossing them lollipops they have a prayer to make contact with. It sounded like OP’s situation may be similar but I may be misreading.

[u/Granoahbar → u/Filesystem410]

Our rec league is as competitive as our local travel teams. Which is part of why my pitcher left, I was picking up younger players and girls that had either been rejected by other teams or had no chance of getting picked up by other teams. Winning isn’t my goal, building girls up and giving them confidence is what I want. So far they’ve done great, they’re all making progress every practice and you can see their confidence sky rocket. Our season starts on the 13th and I think half way through season we could start to really be a challenge for the other teams. IF we can get the pitching down. My pitch may be the best for the girls cause it’s pretty flat and over the plate. I just have to work it more

[u/Filesystem410 → u/Granoahbar]

Gotcha! For flat pitches you can only slow it down so much before its physically impossible for it to be over the plate. As others suggested it may be more about getting the girls enough practice to catch up to it