I don't know if it will last, but DD is on cloud nine today...

How serendipitous for DD! Her HS softball camp started today. The returning varsity and JV players went over to the varsity field to work. The returning C team players and incoming freshmen (including her) went over to the JV field to work. DD was the only player on the JV field who went to the plate when they were told to go to their positions, so she got to do all the drills there. She said she didn't have any problems (even though her knee was stiff today), except that in one drill a girl called for the ball, she threw it (deliberately not at a high speed, just at a speed that would yield a nice, flat trajectory, according to kiddo) and the girl made my unfortunate move of receiving it with her face. --That side of my face is still somewhat numb two years later. The girl had to leave camp for the day; I hope she will be ok. (I've heard stories about this sort of thing being a problem when travel players are thrown in with casual players, so I guess we can attest that it is an issue.) She said in some later bunt drills, the coaches specifically warned her to be gentle throwing to first, because their second basemen weren't used to making those catches.
=:-O

Anyhow, after quite a few initial drills, the coaches told the girls on the JV field that what they currently needed was a varsity catcher and a JV pitcher and they pulled all the girls who were interested off into specialty groups. So DD ended up with the V/JV catchers. It turns out that the varsity catcher has hurt her shoulder too badly to play. Another catcher has hurt her knee ("Worse than mine!") and is also out. The other freshman who plays travel and catches also wants to pitch and had gone off with the pitching group, leaving DD and a sophomore who caught JV last year as the main options. DD said she feels she's definitely the better catcher of the two. It sounds as though she did very well. They asked her to stay after and catch a varsity pitcher. They were concerned because the pitcher has a certain pitch that they didn't know if she'd be able to catch, but she assured them it wasn't a problem. She said the pitcher was pretty good, definitely travel quality, has several pitches. So she's gone from thinking that she was going to be competing for a spot on the V bench as a pinch hitter or the JV catcher spot, to thinking that she's got a clear shot at competing for the position on varsity. She was pretty darn excited and thrilled.

Best of luck to LittleDinosaur!!

Yes, we play in the fall. They've been having softball conditioning workouts all summer. The actual tryouts start in two weeks and I realize it's completely possible that someone better than DD will show up. She's just happy that it looks more promising than she had expected at this point. They said she did a good job and the funny one said she hadn't totally embarrassed herself out there... :-D but they haven't made any commitment to her whatsoever.

DD was definitely not going to skip the camp; I think some girls do and there are some who skip the conditioning. This one was for 9th-12th graders only (they have another camp that is for 3rd-8th).

A few years ago they had camps in the spring for 3rd-8th and when she went to those, the HS players were only there as helpers.

Eric F said:

Best of luck to LittleDinosaur!!

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^this.

Good luck and hope the knees hold up!

This is the thing. You never know when the opportunity will arise, from great play, from unfortunate accidents to other players, or players leaving the team.

Just remember Wally Pipp, and how when he went out, Lou Gehrig was there to step up for the team.

Thanks for sharing, I look forward to following her journey this year.

Out in Left Field said:

Sounds like your teams get a lot of extra softball practice in before tryouts with a mixture of kids coming in and returning players. Not allowed here. We can have open gyms, but no drills or supervisioin by coach, only can watch.

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Huh? What? The?........

WARRIORMIKE said:

Huh? What? The?........

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There are different rules in different areas of the country as to when "practice" can start. There are probably different rules for summer practices as well depending on if SB is a fall or spring sport as to what you can and can't do.

Sweet Lou said:

There are different rules in different areas of the country as to when "practice" can start. There are probably different rules for summer practices as well depending on if SB is a fall or spring sport as to what you can and can't do.

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Oooooooohhhh. Lol


Good thang with your daughter too. I love having those moments with mine. Makes me enjoy being a dad!

BobInMadison said:

This is the thing. You never know when the opportunity will arise, from great play, from unfortunate accidents to other players, or players leaving the team.

Just remember Wally Pipp, and how when he went out, Lou Gehrig was there to step up for the team.

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That's something I've told DD. She got lucky to get the opportunity--no way to foresee she'd have this chance. BUT she has worked very hard the last few years to be a good catcher/ball player which put her into the position to be able to step up.

IMO do your best. You just never know what might happen.