Guest Author - Sandi Faist

“If it was easy, we’d call it baseball.” I don’t know who to give credit for this saying, but it’s absolutely true. After all, a fast pitch softball pitcher can throw the ball to the plate at the speed equivalent to a major league baseball pitcher. I'm impressed by girls who play fast pitch softball. To stand at the plate waiting for the ball as it hurdles toward you takes a lot of guts.

Girls as young as eight play fast pitch softball. Of course, the ball isn’t coming at the batter as fast, but girls at this age are still looking at pitches crossing the plate at 35 mph from 35 feet away. This can be rather intimidating, especially because a young pitcher hasn’t learned to throw the ball with great precision. But most of the time, they don’t hit the batter. It’s around this age that girls may make the decision to leave the sport; some go on to play slow pitch.

Both my daughters are pitchers. They are 11 and 13, and my youngest daughter started pitching at age 7. During the spring and summer before she turned 9, she played on a 10U select team. 10U means the girls have to be ten years old, or younger, so she was playing with some girls who were more than two years older than her. The team had four pitchers and she was their number one; she was the one the coach would put in to get out of a jam. This is quite a feat at age 8. She has continued to do well and has always been her teams’ number one pitcher. She’s not a big girl – only about 80 pounds now at age 11. Technique, rather than size, accounts for the majority of pitching success. I’m not being boastful, (well, maybe a little - she’s been awfully impressive). Anyway, I have nothing to do with her talent in this area. When I was a kid, I played softball with the neighborhood kids on a dirt lot.

My older daughter has been pitching since she was nine. When she was 10, one of the parents on her Little League team became quite inflamed when he saw her pitch; she threw too fast. (She was the fastest pitcher in her league at the time). This parent had quite a temper tantrum about her throwing so fast. I didn’t understand why he was so upset; his daughters were on our team and she wouldn’t be pitching to them. He was adamant that during practices, his daughters were not to take batting practice off of her. She did tend to be a little wild, but she rarely hit anyone.

It’s not easy being a pitcher; it takes a huge commitment. To be successful, girls must start learning at an early age and be willing to practice year-round. That’s in addition to regular team practices. It takes hard work, dedication, and a large time commitment. Only a girl who plays softball could do it!