by skoufax » Sat May 31, 2014 12:02 pm
Onlooker - This may very well be my last HB post as the older one is moving on to college after the summer and the 14 year-old isn't playing at the moment. Having watched more ball than I ever imagined over the last 10 years I have to say that I agree with you completely. I watched the team in question play and there is no doubt they handled themselves well and competed but.... how they played is secondary to the reality of the potential for injury. There is no comparison between a 14 year old girl and a fully developed 18 year old woman. The way some of those kids swing the bat combined with the bats these days is a bit scary. I know many will argue that since Niccum did fairly well negates your argument but to me, the actual performance is not the point. And, I believe a girl did get injured... You know, as many have mentioned above, if teams stayed in their age group we would have a VERY competetive region. I would say the teams in the 18 divison that made the gold bracket were fairly good while the entire silver bracket was suspect and in my opinion, the 16's offered better competition (and more fun to be honest to play your peers). But even some of the worst 18 teams can have girls with much more power, size and strength. So, it's interesting to see you bet beat up a little for expressing concern about the safety of the girls but I think you can't ever worry too much.