BestTEAMMOM

5-15-13 Scrimmage: Parents VS Kids

Coach called not 1, not 2 but 3 practices before our next championship game so to change things up a little, I asked if one of those practices could be a scrimmage game between parents and the girls. He agreed and tonight was the night.

I was really, really worried about playing the girls. You see when I was younger, I couldn’t hit, couldn’t throw and couldn’t bat. I still can’t do any of those things but I sure was going to have some fun trying. I never “knew” you were supposed to watch the ball. I would always watch the batter and swing and hoped I hit the ball. I was so afraid that I would completely embarrass myself and not be able to hit against the pitcher who is only 8 YEARS OLD. But in the end, I did and we parents had a great time playing against the team. I thought we would be more like the bad news bears because a good majority of us never played the sport of softball before (I never had) but instead, we did pretty good. We let them have 6 outs to our 3 and in the end it was a tie game.

Some of the parents/girls took this opportunity to stay home and not participate in all the fun but it was their loss. The photos and video taken showed how much fun we had tonight and it will certainly be a memory I’ll never forgot for this great, great season we have had.

We play our second tournament game tomorrow against the second highest seeded team. I’m not sure if the girls will be burned out or ready to play but I hope it’s the second. We do not want to lose against this team. Good luck girls!

5-11-13 First win towards the tournament

This was it. Our first tournament game and it was hot, hot, extremely hot. I didn’t watch anyy of the warm up the girls did because I was around running my mouth, saying hi to this person and that so I had no idea if our girls were ready to play today. Before I knew it, it was time to start the game and take my seat under the shade tarp to keep score. My buddy “blue” was umpiring today and we chit chatted a bit and introduced ourselves. I liked him.

We were the home team and were on defense at the start of the game. 1 2 3, we got their top of the lineup out. 1 2 3, “back atcha” is what they seemed to say to us and we left a runner stranded on base. We held them to zero for the second inning while our at bats scored us a run. Third inning we had a defensive error in the game but we got our act together and held them to one run. At the bottom of the third we seemed to find some energy and we were able to bring in 2 runs. The fourth inning is the start of unlimited runs but….neither team was up long enough to run up the score. 1 2 3 and 1 2 3 and the 4th inning was over. The defense in this game was phenomenal for both teams but we managed to get another run in the 5th inning AND I learned something new: Infield fly rule. What happened was one of our batters hit a very high pop fly and the pitcher dropped it. Our runners on second and first then ran to their bases but the pitcher was able to throw to 3rd base to get our runner out AND the batter was out. Whhaaat?? I had never heard of this but apparently it is part of baseball, softball and has always been part of the league. My friend “blue” took the time during the game to explain it to me since I was keeping score but…..I still didn’t get it so I had to look it up when I got home.

According to Wikipedia:

The infield fly rule is a rule in baseball intended to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping pop-ups in order to turn double plays (or triple plays). Without this rule, a defense could easily turn a pop fly into a double or triple play when there are fewer than two outs with runners at first and second base or when the bases are loaded. If the runners stay near their bases to tag up, the defense could let the ball drop, throw to third base and then to second (or home to third or home to third to second), for a force-out at each base. If any of the runners stray too far from their bases, the defense could catch the pop-up and double-off any runner that failed to tag up. When the rule is invoked, the batter is out (and all force plays removed) regardless of whether the ball is caught, thus negating the possibility for multiple outs.

Ummm, this still didn’t make any sense to me. I had to call my mom. She explained it to me. I think I understand it now.

Although the game was close, I wasn’t too stressed out about it as the coaches were. We play the number 2 team in the league on Thursday. Good luck girls!

5-4-13 First place

First place! We won our game today and clinched the First Place spot of the season! Woo hoo! The girls took their victory run up the “hill” next to the ball field, posed for pictures and ran down to us cheering parents. It was a hot day and probably miserable to play in that heat but the girls stayed strong and united and won the game. Tournament here we come!

5-1-13 Second to last season game

Tess had a great game last night. While practice the day before made her highly upset for reasons only known to her, tonight was different. The whole team was pumped and ready to win. We were the Home team and were second to bat. Our defense held them to no runs in the first 2 innings and by the 3rd inning the score was 4 to 0. In the fourth inning we were finally able to get some hits that the opposing team couldn’t field so well and our lead quickly increased. We had a couple girls get Caught Stealing (including Tess) but she said the coach actually apologized to her and said it was his fault for sending her. (Tess is not a fast runner, doesn’t really know “how” to run – strange as that may seem – AND had a blister on her foot). Almost everyone got a hit tonight including the coach’s daughter who got her very first one of the entire season. The final score was 9 to 2.

We have our last regularly scheduled season game on Saturday. Hopefully everyone will be there as we play a team who is currently in second place. We have lost to them twice and won once so we definitely have to bring our A game. I can’t wait!

4-24-13 Cold night win

It was freezing cold tonight and we played another former coach Tess had and it was good to see him again. He is such a good coach that it is surprising that his team doesn’t give ours a run for our money. In the end we were ahead so our coach let players go to positions they normally didn’t play in. Unfortunately Tess was late getting out of the dugout and went back to outfield. (That just goes to show you that you should always be hustling, running in softball). Final score was 16 to 3.

4-20-13 Too close for comfort

A coach of Tess’ from last fall was our opponent today and boy has his team grown. In fact, we were losing but thankfully our league gives the Home team 15 minutes to “do whatever they can” to come back and win the game and that’s exactly what happened tonight. It was too close for comfort, we made some errors but we fought back and won 9 to 8.

4-27-13 I really believed we could….

Yikes! We were missing our second pitcher and our one and only catcher today and….it showed. One two three – the opposing team got us out but we answered back and held them to no runs. The game was close in the first and second inning. Our second pitcher tonight was strong and fast at pitching but added a hop when she threw the ball so her first strike thrown in the game became a ball because of an “illegal pitch.” That’s OK. She was doing the best she could considering she had only found out the night before she would be pitching. While we couldn’t hold them with our defense, we thought we could move ahead with our offense but they kept fielding the ball well and held us for a score of 2 to 12.

This game is behind us and after the loss it was time for….snacks, of course. I told the girls tonight that each and every one of their positions is important and it’s true. We’ve just got to figure out how to beat another team when we aren’t all here. Hopefully they’ll figure that out with the last few games of the season. I really believed we could win without two key players. Until next game girls.

Shaq Attaq Shoes

You remember Shaq, right? One of the NBA’s biggest (literally) living legends! He paired back up with Reebok to release his 1992 Shaq Attaq Shoes on Friday, April 19th at 8:00AM! These shoes will sell out within 2 hours, so head over to Reebok and get a pair of the great Shaq Attaq Shoes!

4-17-13 We knew we could do it!

This was it. This day, this game would be the moment of truth. We were playing a team who we had previously lost to by 1 or 2 points but we knew we could beat them. Our girls are a great softball team but they threw the game away each time because of gross errors. Not tonight!

The other team was already in the warm up area before our team and we parents were hopeful that it would tire them out and we would beat them. Our coach got a little nervous about this but we reassured him not to worry. Our girls looked great during warm ups.

Visualize the ol’ slow motion view in a movie or commercial that creates a dramatic effect – that was us tonight as the girls entered the dugout. I wished them luck and proceeded to my seat to watch “the” game.

We were up to bat first and scored one run in the first inning. At the bottom of the 1st inning we shut them down 1 2 3. Our next at bats were great and we quickly scored our 5 points. But the other team answered back and was able to get 2 runs. The third inning found our bottom line-up up to bat and wow did they hit some softballs! Whack, crack and boom – their bats found the balls and they all got on base. When the opposing team was next up we let them score two more runs (due to an error) but we shut them down at that point.

We were up to bat again and time was running out. Tess would be the last batter in the game with 52 seconds left remaining. (Remember, our league adds 15 minutes on to the game in hopes of letting the team who is behind get a chance to win so this was going to be the drop dead time and unfortunately, the other team never got back up to bat.). Tess’ coach had told her earlier he would give her a sticker if she got a home run (she’s one of the tallest, biggest and strongest player out there and could really hit a home run if she tried) so she really, really tried. Whack!! Foul ball. And again and again. She did not want to get out by not swinging the bat so she hit the balls tonight that were a little bit higher than she likes them and lower too. In fact, with a full count and the time now counted down to zero, she was pitched a “golfer” and she swung, made contact and drove the ball toward the outfield only 1 or 2 inches off the ground. She’s not a quick runner and was out on first. Game Over! We won! 14 – 4.

We were now in first place by a slight margin and the girls were screaming with joy. I do believe the other team was a bit tired from warming up too much but it worked out in our favor. We will have to play them again before the season is over but if our team stays focused and doesn’t make any costly mistakes, we can beat them again. Great game girls and good luck on Saturday!

4-13-13 On cloud 9

Our game was at 4:10 and it was a beautiful sunny day. My husband (who refers to himself as “just a dad” JAD) was camping with my son so I was on my own to bring snacks, put up the banner, take photos (which he usually does), take down the banner and pass out goodies for the players for Player Appreciation Day. No problem. The best part about today’s game is that I did not have to keep score.

We were the Visiting team and up to bat first. One, two, three…..our first batters were out due to their hits all being pop flies and being caught by the other team. That made us a little nervous but it was time for our defense to show them what they got. We held them to zero. In the second inning the score was 4 to 0, our favor. We dozed off for a bit or something because in the 3rd and 4th inning they were able to get 4 runs but by now we had 10 runs.

Our league institutes adding 15 minutes on the clock after the official 85 minutes lapses to give the losing team a fair chance at winning. The only problem is that there are unlimited runs beginning in the 4th inning and our team was still up to bat. Before we knew it the score was 19, then 20, and finally 21 to 4. We were on cloud 9!! The coach had our girls stop stealing bases which is what any good coach would do for good sportsmanship but I tell ya, it’s ingrained in these girls heads to steal on overthrows so it was hard for them not to.

Our next game is against a team we have yet to beat but we know we can. The games have been close with a difference of 1 or 2 points each time. If all of our girls are healthy and rested I know we will give them a run for their money. Good luck team……I’ll see you at the game!

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