Buying a softball glove for the pre-high school girl.

Q. "Coach, I want to buy a new glove for my daughter. Do you have any recommendations?"

My response is written with a 6 – 8^th grader, girls fast pitch softball, in mind.

A. First things first. Why do you want to buy a new glove? If it is because it is old and dirty, that is not a good reason. Gloves take months or years to break-in and I would much rather play with a broken-in glove than a new one.

Good reasons to buy a glove include (besides the obvious, "Dad, I lost my glove" reason) are that the old glove is too small, torn, or in disrepair.

What size glove? You don't want it too small since next year, in all probability, Virginia player's will be playing with the larger, standard-size 12" ball. You need a minimum 12 and 1/2 inch mitt (this is how most mitts are sized) for 12" softballs to fit comfortably in the "well" of the glove. (I am using "mitt" and "glove” interchangeably here although technically there is a difference).

Whether you buy a Rawlings, Wilson, Louisville, or another brand makes little difference. However, unless your daughter is prone to losing mitts, I recommend you spend the money for a good mitt. Good mitts can cost $85 -$150 or more. For this price you get a ball glove produced by an experienced leatherworker that has been meticulously constructed. Every glove is carefully cut, stitched, laced, greased, hammered, molded and steamed to its ideal shape and size.

The main thing to look for is whether the laces on the back of the glove are protected. Protected laces won’t break after being scraped on the ground repeatedly from fielding ground balls.

Unless the mitt is light tan, it has been pretreated. Is this better? There are different schools of thought on this but treated gloves are easier to use right away since they are more manipulative. The oil-tanned leather goes through an oil impregnating process that makes it softer. The leather is usually not as thick as the leather used in untreated gloves, resulting in a glove that is easier to break-in (but also less durable). Others say a glove should be broken-in over time and naturally. It is really up to the player. Don’t worry if the glove is made in a different country. Most gloves (98%) are imported.

Old way of maintaining a glove: Place a softball if the pocket and place a rubber band around it to develop the pocket. Doing this makes it very difficult to open the glove up all the way when one wants to catch the ball.

Better way: Simply set the glove down on its back (pocket up) when not in use without anything in the pocket. Optionally, placing a telephone book or other heavy object on top of the glove will force the pocket to spread out. Doing this will keep the glove in a naturally open position, ready for any softballs coming its way.

Specialty gloves, such as catcher’s mitts and first basemen’s gloves should be avoided until high school, unless the player has a true passion for one of these positions.

Coach Bill