10U rules

Question
Our league has always played 9-12 year olds together.  This has hurt the development of young pitching (girls fast pitch)since the vast majority of the pitching responsibilities fall to the 11 and 12 year olds.   This will be the first year that we play 10U seperate from 12U.  The girls pitching this year will have little or no training.  We are wondering (#1)how lenient we should be with the strike zone and (#2) have you seen 10U specific rules that could improve the quality of our games and the girls' skills development.  

Answer
Chuck,

As for your first question, I beleive you should be very lenient. Not enough to make it look obvious but give the pitcher the benifet of the doubt. However, I cannot think of anything to help you with your second question. Sorry.

Hope this helps.

Jesse