Fastpitch speed for 10 & under

Question
My daughter is nine years old and just tried out for her first time for an ASA 10 and under team.  She has never had a pitching coach, and averaged 24-26mph, but 90% of her balls were in the strike zone?  Is this bad?  Is there a base speed for pitching at this age?  Do you have any suggestions?

Answer
Deb,

You have hit on a common early question on pitching, speed vs accuracy.  One side says, throw hard, the accuracy will come.  The other says, you have to at least throw strikes.  

24-26 is pretty hittable but it is a start.  Get her some lessons to get her mechanics correct.  She will quickly advance her speed while maintaining her control.  BTW, she really doesn't want 90% of her pitches in the strike zone.  You want the batters to chase bad pitches.  As long as she can put it in the strike zone when she needs to she can throw outside and low and inside and high all she wants!

For a batter that won't swing at anything, you only need to throw strikes 45% of the time to get a strike out.