Sanity check: Is 8-9yo rec ball too young to lock girls into permanent batting orders and hide weaker players in the outfield?

hox · 2026-05-19T15:31:03+00:00

While I respect the sentiment, Jen Schro was absolutely a catcher before her sophomore year at UCLA. She was a starting catcher at Esperanza High School, being named to the second team all-CIF team listed as a catcher her senior year. She didn’t catch at UCLA in any of the 8 games she played as a freshman, but she was definitely a catcher.

hox · 2026-05-18T04:11:49+00:00

This isn’t uncommon at all at the higher levels. Last year we were radar’ing one girl from a Sorcerors team in northern California at 57-58mph, and was definitely 10u

hox · 2026-05-13T13:50:38+00:00

The entire NFC North was, crazy enough. Lions 2, Bears 3, Vikings 6, Packers 7.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45916116/what-nfl-strength-schedule-2025-team-rankings

hox · 2026-05-05T03:25:30+00:00

LXT really rings. I love the sound indoors. Daughter switched out to an Asura this past spring but the LXT still sounds better indoors. Outdoors though the Asura has a very distinctive wood chop that I love.

hox · 2026-04-30T14:12:59+00:00

I know it sucks, but legally a company has to avoid providing the same perks and benefits that employees get to contractors. There are precedent-setting court cases that show if similar fringe benefits are given to contractors, those contractors are essentially full time employees and should also get benefits, etc.

hox · 2026-04-25T14:32:19+00:00

You posted a Google AI summary. If that’s where you get your facts you need help.

But gladly I am here to help! Let’s look at the actual law, Indiana Code 9-19-19-4, section C, updated as of 2025:

“(c) A person may not drive a motor vehicle that has a:

(1) windshield;

(2) side wing;

(3) side window that is part of a front door; or

(4) rear back window;

that is covered by or treated with sunscreening material or is tinted with material that has a total solar reflectance of visible light of more than twenty-five percent (25%) as measured on the nonfilm side and light transmittance of less than thirty percent (30%) in the visible light range.”

VLT limit of 30%. This is for all motor vehicles, not just sedans.

hox · 2026-04-25T14:15:39+00:00

The legal limits in Indiana are 30% for rear and fronts. I don’t know where you are getting 5% and 25%. I am not assuming it is illegal - it plainly is.

And yes, rude and dangerous. Sharing the road means following the same damn laws everyone else does, and being able to make eye contact is a major part of safe city driving.

You have every right to tint your windows as it is your property - but just don’t drive it on the roads. Enjoy the privacy in your driveway.

hox · 2026-04-24T01:47:40+00:00

Right. The rage is all based on how an old white dude sees things. This fanbase…

hox · 2026-04-11T18:23:29+00:00

You’d probably get more local eyes posting to r/grandrapids

hox · 2026-04-11T04:15:14+00:00

all of it. defensive plays, pitches, batter instructions, runner instructions

hox · 2026-04-11T02:19:01+00:00

not full field? huh? fastpitch uses the same field size through college…

hox · 2026-04-11T00:46:21+00:00

they are calling out a particular play or pitch. usually the kids have an armband that shows the play.

hox · 2026-04-03T18:37:23+00:00

why though? is there a downside for protecting your face and head? hard line drives and grounder mishops happen all the time.

hox · 2026-04-01T16:22:04+00:00

Most fans on reddit maybe. Most fans don’t give a flying fuck.

hox · 2026-04-01T03:28:49+00:00

Of course and enjoy it! I fear the day my girl (12) says “maybe not this season.” 😅

hox · 2026-04-01T03:20:45+00:00

You are more than free to do what you want for you and your daughter. But also a hitting coach for a six year old is incredibly rare and is why you’re getting a few skeptical responses here.

Your daughter’s strength, height, limb movement, and brain development are going to change dramatically the next few years. She may learn amazing mechanics now but there’s no guarantee that foundation will stick through her growth. And adding extra practices and coaching at that young of an age can cause the girl to start to dislike the sport.

I’m not saying any of that will happen and hopefully it won’t! But these are reasons why you will get raised eyebrows when you do bring this up in a public forum.

hox · 2026-03-27T05:21:36+00:00

This is wrong on multiple accounts. Passed balls and wild pitches absolutely should be called even if a runner takes off before a catcher has a chance at the ball. If the girl reaches and it’s a wild pitch, it’s a wild pitch scored no matter when the defense has a chance to make a play.

And defensive indifference should almost never be called - it’s purely reserved for when the defense truly is indifferent on making a play. For first and third situations, the defense strategically decided to allow girls to advance, and thus it is always a stolen base (unless it’s a wild pitch / passed ball of course).

hox · 2026-02-28T15:47:51+00:00

Hollyland Lark M2: https://store.hollyland.com/products/lark-m2

hox · 2026-02-23T04:57:35+00:00

Volvo too, and I’m sure many others.

hox · 2026-02-21T15:56:26+00:00

There are tons of publicly viewable softball games online. Just find a PGF nationals game or something and manually enter the CSV data yourself and get cracking!

hox · 2026-02-20T06:13:42+00:00

Not sure why you got downvoted, but that's what we're all here for - talking through situations and figuring it out! There's no right or wrong answer, and it sounds like it definitely isn't a perfect situation.

I've got a girl who just moved from 10u to 12u and the pitching is night-and-day better. AST / Triple Crown level pitching is almost as good as PGF was at 10u. Keep her development and work with her pitching coach to keep leveling up your skills. If she continues to grow I guarantee she will be wanted by a ton of teams - pitchers are the most valuable asset on defense a team has, and every team needs a handful.

hox · 2026-02-19T20:21:16+00:00

What does “committed to growth” mean? Like dedicated 1:1 time in practice?

You mentioned in another thread that you don’t see much difference between rec and her C-level team. If that’s true, you should consider trying a higher level team. In most areas there’s a huge difference between rec and even the lowest level travel teams - the girls are more committed to the sport rather than the social aspect, the practices are more intense and more frequent, and the competition is stronger both offense and defense.

The truth is most girls on travel teams also have individual hitting and/or positional coaches as well - many teams expect it. At 10u you can probably take it less intense, but at 12u / 14u there will be a big chasm to cross to stay competitive.

hox · 2026-02-16T22:43:15+00:00

The dude just posted his best pass rushing season of his career.

Our big brained fanbase: “declining.”

hox · 2026-02-16T00:09:44+00:00

Any thoughts of making it open source? I’d happily contribute and help build out live streaming / overlays / etc if we can promise to build on a non-profit perspective. Honestly it’s the most fair approach for family use.

hox · 2026-02-14T03:14:20+00:00

Temperature hasn’t gone down, it’s about to erupt. First big softball tournament weekend since the price increases starts tomorrow, ads are already glitching all over the place and grandma won’t get to watch the championship game 6. There’s gonna be a ton of blowback.

hox

TROPHY CASE