Rich wrote:Many keep mentioning pitchers who pitch for some of the top teams in the division, and those girls are very good pitchers. But it is one thing to pitch for a team that turns hits into outs and quite another to pitch for a team that turns outs into base runners. I believe a few of the top pitchers don't even pitch for a team ranked in the top twenty.
My oldest is in her first year of college and this year, playing behind a good defensive team, her ERA is almost 2 runs per game lower than her last year of High school ball. She is also undefeated this year, under .500 last year.
We are talking about 12u here, and ERA is earned runs, so even good pitchers who are playing for an average defensive team, should still have a low ERA, good strike-out percentage and low walk percentage. Most top 10-15 teams have good defense, so I think we are talking apple to apples in this division. Although, you do have a good point about defense playing a critical role in a pitcher's overall confidence and success, if she's throwing for a team who makes phenominal plays time and again, then on the books she would appear stronger; however, I think those on here are speaking from experience of playing against these pitchers/teams and know the difference between being robbed of base hits by awesome defense and solid pitching performance.
If there is a top pitcher out there who was not mentioned, please give up the team name(s) because maybe the top teams haven't played them enough, or even faced that pitcher in a tournament or friendly.
