Again forgive me for bringing up something that has been discussed in the distant past but as I am new to the forum I want to say a few things here.
I have read most of the posts on the VHSL pitching rule and I think many of us are missing the point.
The intent of this rule is to prevent pitchers from being abused. I think most coaches at some point were guilty of this although most probably didn't consider it malicious. Even with all of the research out there many "old" school coaches believe kids can go out and throw 120 pitches, have a day off and come back and throw another 120 pitches a few days later. Many coaches would go by how the player said they felt, some by situations, some by parents,etc. Even the best coaches often overwork pitchers.
The intent is to lessen this problem. Either through a pitch count or by innings. Both are problematic but do achieve the overall goal.
Now let me address something else. If you are a parent and your high school coach has your son throw 130 pitches in 7 innings. Why are you on here complaining. You should be sitting in the office of the principal and A.D. the day after that happens. The problem is that most parents want junior out there to throw that 130 pitches, and that has allowed this culture to exist among coaches for years..
Second, I take exception to this idea that coaches are dishonest and liars. Maybe I am a little naive being from the western part of the state but we don't have these issues of coaches trying to fake scorebooks or say kids only pitched 3 innings when they pitched 4 or anything like that. It seems to many of us, that we are constantly getting new rules and interpretations because the big schools, NOVA, Beach and Richmond can't get their acts together.
There was one quote I saw that really ticked me off.
"We have all had to set through the JV kid who throws 120 pitches through 4 innings" My Response: Why the hell is this kid still in the game as pitcher.
Overall, to be honest, I do not totally agree that over pitching in high school is the problem that organizations seem to be identifying it to be but until this generation of coaches is out of coaching there is always going to be abuse. I know a coach, very well respected, who constantly has kids pitch more than they should. A few years ago when his pitching wasn't very deep, he decided that his starters were just going to have to pitch the entire game no matter what. His best pitcher, had one game that he pitched 140 pitches (and this was with the VHSL regs) another routinely pitched over 100. The pitcher that threw 140, his dad is 100% supportive of everything the coach does.
Personally I don't mind the rule as is but I think there does need to be an addition and that should be a limit on the number of pitches a pitcher throws in a game. I also have a problem with the fact that if you throw 3 innings you have 1 day of rest, but if you throw 4, you have 2 days of rest and can't pitch to the limit again for 4 days. This doesn't seem to be based on anything scientifically. I also shudder at the thought of keeping pitch counts 100% accurately. I am our teams pitching coach and I always seem to miss a pitch here or there, normally when someone bothers me in the dugout, but usually at worst I'm within 5 pitches. Trying to figure out a way to get coaches to agree, seems difficult. What if I have 94 pitches and the opposing coach has 92 but a parent in the stands has 96. That the pitcher ended in the 6th inning is much easier.