How does pitching skill affect your zone?

[mcrowder]

With 13U or higher, I try to call the book zone as closely as possible.

Below that, if BOTH pitchers are struggling, I might widen the strike zone a bit to avoid the walkathon and get the batters to swing some. If one pitcher is good and the other not, however, the bad pitcher is just going to have to live with the "normal" zone that I'm giving the good pitcher.

And no, I try hard not to change zones when the bad pitcher comes in. One exception: Last game of the season, 8-1 team vs 0-9 team. 4th inning, score is something like 15-0, and the bad team's only respectable pitcher gets hurt. Bad team is ready to forfeit, so I get the coaches together - the agree to let someone who had never pitched before come in, with the good team telling me that anything that is reachable, AT ALL, is a strike against them. To make the point, on the very first pitch, hat high and 6 inches outside... "STRIKE!" Girls swung the bats after that, and still managed to score 5 or 6 more with the benefit of only 1 walk (and I felt bad issuing that!).

But that example was really a "real" game that turned "rec" in a hurry.