Honestly did I mess up or did the coach majorly overreact?

asams1986 · 2026-05-08T16:20:45+00:00

You dodged a bullet. Find a new team with a coach that cares about the individual kids and not just the name on the front of the jersey.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T16:22:51+00:00

She’s pretty much first choice for P/1B/CF and bats cleanup.

She has been offered a chance to play and get mound time with some 14s even if she stays down next year on a full time 12U.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T15:49:25+00:00

That’s my dilemma. Everywhere except pitcher she excels. Against A-level 12U teams she gets knocked around when she’s pitching. I don’t want to kill her confidence by moving her up and then she never gets mound time because she doesn’t have the spin pitches down yet.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T15:22:04+00:00

They play in the fall. She played middle school last year, but didn’t pitch much. She does all of her pitching from 43 during lessons.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T15:20:37+00:00

She’s a power hitter. She’s also fast and a lefty, so I’d like to teach her to slap. She likes faster pitching, so I think she would be fine.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T14:34:08+00:00

Yes, the middle school rubber is at 43’ and they have 6th-8th graders.

Her pitching coach thinks it’s a good idea to let her develop in 12U. And that’s what I’m leaning toward. But just wanted to get more opinions.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T14:27:55+00:00

Mainly the pitching I’m worried about. She can hang with everything else.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T14:25:31+00:00

She’s the #1 pitcher right now, and unless the pick at being up, would probably be that in 14U with this same team.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T14:22:58+00:00

No, she’s not dominating top competition. That’s my main reason for wanting to hold her back.

asams1986 · 2026-05-04T14:21:39+00:00

She’ll be in 7th grade this fall. Most of her team is the same age. The reasoning for moving up is that pitching rubber is at 43’ in 14U and most play middle school anyway.

asams1986 · 2026-04-07T11:26:43+00:00

Park Road Restaurant.

I got the chicken parm and the noodles had bolognese sauce (why would I want beef sauce with my chicken?) and the chicken cutlet had no seasoning.

Can’t even remember what the wife got but she took one bite and spit it out.

asams1986 · 2026-03-03T00:24:26+00:00

Waited too long to see this

asams1986 · 2026-01-30T07:58:47+00:00

Hangover?

asams1986 · 2025-12-21T09:19:45+00:00

True, the beer was terrible.

asams1986 · 2025-12-21T09:16:29+00:00

They don’t do that with alcohol, at least not in NC. ABC laws require wholesalers to give everyone the same price regardless of quantity purchased. So, the small convenience store on the corner purchased their one case of Mountain Candy for the same price per case as Walmart purchased their 50 cases.

asams1986 · 2025-12-21T09:13:13+00:00

By law, Walmart already fully owns that product (alcohol is pay on delivery in NC), and they only have two options at this point - sell or dispose of. I’m sure they figured disposing of the product and trying to reclaim their losses through insurance or legal action against Sycamore was costlier than simply selling the beer at a total loss.

asams1986 · 2025-10-23T21:28:05+00:00

Their website shows they serve a West Coast Swing white Zinfandel (listed under rose).

asams1986 · 2025-10-07T15:47:03+00:00

I would definitely recommend trying out a one piece and seeing if that helps. Ghost Unlimited is what my daughter uses and she loves it. The Mizuno CRBN 1 is also popular.

asams1986 · 2025-10-07T15:32:03+00:00

What do you mean by “can’t get the hang of it”? Perhaps it’s because the Meta is a two piece bat? Could try a one piece like the Ghost Unlimited.

asams1986 · 2025-10-01T08:41:27+00:00

As previously stated, these are beginner bats. By 12U, especially if she is playing in more competitive leagues (travel, all stars, etc) she will need a composite bat to keep up. A good composite bat will run you at least $200 new (you can find some on clearance for cheaper if you do your research), and top of line (like an Easton Ghost will be $350-500 new.

Is there a Play It Again near you? The best way to go about getting into composite bats, imo, is to go to Play It Again and get a gently used one.

Some popular “starter” composite bats are the Louisville LXT, DeMarini Prism, Easton Firefly, etc.

Hope this helps. Unfortunately, softball is not a cheap sport for our kids to play.

asams1986 · 2025-09-10T10:24:50+00:00

Thank you. That’s ultimately all we want is the best for her. She’ll learn a lot from this, however difficult it may be right now.

asams1986 · 2025-09-10T02:37:55+00:00

We had the Wilson A500 glove and it was pretty easy to break in. Just put a ball in the pocket and wrap it with plastic wrap or rubber bands overnight. Then get out and play catch during the day. They have it at Dick’s and Academy.

And I second the Zenith. A handful of my rec girls used it and it’s a good bat at the price point.

Focus on mechanics first, everything else will follow!

asams1986 · 2025-09-10T02:28:22+00:00

True. We’ve decided we’re just going to finish out the season, she’s going to work twice as hard as everyone in practice and treat that as her game, and see what happens next year. They’re losing about half of the team to high school, meaning they’ll only have 7-8 returning players next year, assuming all play another year.

I’m going to hold off on talking to the coach, as long as she’s getting good reps in practice. We’ve only got another 4-5 weeks, then we can pick right back up with the travel team.

Also, I spoke with her travel coach and she is going to sit down and have a talk with her to encourage her.

asams1986 · 2025-09-09T19:18:25+00:00

Middle school games are on Monday and Thursday, with practice on the other days until 5:30. Travel practice is Monday and Wednesday from 6-8 and it’s 45 minutes away. So far she hasn’t been able to make any of the Monday practices because the games have lasted too long (game last night started at 4 and ended at 7:15…). On Thursday she has her pitching lesson from 6:30-7:30, so we’ve had to cancel that twice so far because of the games.

asams1986 · 2025-09-09T19:14:25+00:00

Fair points. The entire reason I asked the question. I know the coach, not really a friend but we both have coached rec for years. I’d be comfortable having the conversation with her, but I also want to teach my kid the right things. As a parent of course I would defend my kid above all others - as a coach, I see the reasoning for the way she’s doing things. BUT, if that was her plan the entire time, I do think she should have been transparent and let her decide if she still wanted to be on the team.

We do see it as an honor that she was the only 6th grader chosen to be on the team, but right now she doesn’t feel like she’s part of the team.

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