2014 Little League World Series

I wasn't saying you were the doubter, it was someone else above you who was the cynic.

 

I'm not sure if there would be a big difference between a boy and girl in arm strength, but the 70 mph itself is not remarkable in any way these days.

 

Ahh. Haven't seen her yet, just a couple highlights. There are always doubters. My buddy saw one of her games and said, 'think she is a boy, or a hermaphrodite.'

 

haven't watched every game, but over the last few years don't remember anyone better than 70-73.

 

I just can't bring myself to watch it. The kids may not actually be exploited, but it just makes me feel like they are.

Makes me very uncomfortable when they show the kids bawling their eyes out after losing and makes me uncomfortable when a kid throws a fit after performing badly. The whole thing just makes my stomach turn.

 

Last year the Michigan kid was at 75 and the California kid was not far behind. But they were both well over 6 feet too.

Most of who throw that hard aren't in LL anymore, though, they are off in travel ball or playing Ripken or Pony, whose rules and playing style are just like travel ball. The LL field is too small and the rules (pitch counts, baserunning, district size limits) are too restrictive, so a lot of the better players skip it altogether.

 

I've always done my best to ignore it and other similar events. This year, though, I couldn't, since there was a county team in the Cal Ripken World Series. Didn't get to go, but we hired a photo stringer and relied on the PR folks there for stories (also had some cell nos. tucked away). Had one sequence where the locals appeared to do an Alphonse-Gaston act and had no clue how to run it. Yeah, it's the national semifinals ... but they're also 12! Used just one shot, and did not make it main.

 

I read that she said she wants to play basketball at UConn and that Geno Auriemma called her.

Is that a violation of NCAA rules? I thought a coach couldn't call a kid until she was a senior in high school.

 

Kids have been offered scholarships in grammar school.

 

I went Friday. Had a blast as always. It seems to me to be a lot of pressure on a bunch of kids, like that shortstop who threw the ball away to lose the game Sunday night against Taney. But man, you sure do see those kids smiling a lot more than they're grim.

Mo'ne and her squad have been under the microscope every step of the way. Yeah, I think she's just 13.

http://www.pennlive.com/little-league-world-series/2014/08/opposing_pa_little_league_managers_question_whether_taney_followed_eligibility_rules.html

Not really. That's who is at the LLWS these days -- travel-ball kids in a town where they decide to get together for the minimum number of regular-season games and then make a run in the tournament.

We had a local team just like that. They lost at states to the Collier Township team that dropped the final to Taney and then cried foul. Then that local team turned around and finished second the next week in one of those travel-ball tournaments in Cooperstown.

Actually, I think the reason you don't see the 77-mph fastballs so much anymore is that the teams that get there have more complete pitchers, kids throwing a lot to spots, curves, off-speed. At some point, you can rack up the pitching machine fast enough that kids are going to be able to time a fireballer. But that's Mo'Ne's thing -- she throws the two things Little Leaguers can't lay off. The neck-high fastball followed by the little curve out of the zone.

 

Who said 77? Actually I do know a 12-year-old who throws 78, and three other kids who throw 70+. And that's just in my little corner of the world. It's just they aren't playing Little League because they are on the year-round travel/showcase circuit. The 12-year-old year is also the Cooperstown year for these teams, so kids pick one or the other in most cases.

Yes, there are some travel teams that fold back into Little League. There are a lot more that don't. And that's where the best pitchers are.

She's awesome, don't get me wrong, and you are correct that she really knows how to pitch. More than the kids I've seen who throw harder. I was just responding to the idea that 70 mph is unusual. It isn't.

 

Why?