DISCLAIMER: Long winded thank you ahead!
Soooooo,
Took The Kid to a tryout this weekend for one of the "Big Name" organizations. Sent HC video of The Kid ripping it off in my little brother's backyard prior to attending said tryout; HC responds to video with: "We can't wait to watch Kaley pitch live! Her form looks AMAZING!" We get to said tryout Saturday morning 45 minutes early so The Kid can warmup...looks like it's going to be one of those blah kinda days...Kid is throwing ok; she's doing well hitting her spots and the spin stuff looks ok. Coach runs them through a lot of infield/outfield/hitting drills, (This was a 6 hour practice). Then it comes time for live pitching. Dude walks out of the dugout with The Kid in the circle and he has a Pocket Radar in his hand. On the sly he guns her FB, I ask him what the speed was. "46". She throws several more and he guns those, too. "46"..."46"..."48"..."47"...then she throws the circle change..."38"...he looks at me and says, "Man, that's great. Damn near a 10 mile an hour difference in her FB and CU." So in walks one of his rostered power hitters. The Kid throws a FB inside. FOUL. Screwball up and in....schwing and a miss...here comes the change...wiff. And I mean, big, swinging clean out of her shoes wiff. Damn. The Kid is off and running. Said power hitter gets back in the box after her Dad talks to her. Screwball up and in. Wiff. CU up and in...wiff number two...screwball low and in and she missed it by a mile. Coach is grinning like a jackass eatin briars. Power hitter's Dad is standing right next to me at this point, and he's laughing, too. She looks back at him with that "Really" look on her face and her Dad says, "quit being all mad and hit the damn ball." The Kid steps back on the rubber and throws another CU down and away that ties her up again. Strike 1...Kid gets all juiced up and tries to crank two FB's back to back; hitter fouls them both off. She's got her on the ropes a 3rd time and tries to crank a screwball that breaks late...oops. Power hitter crushes it for an OTF HR. Kid starts giggling. Next girl gets in and she's got thump for days; in front toss this one cranked 5 out of 10 for OTF'ers...so The Kid parks a CU down and in for a swinging strike. Drop curve running down and away for another one, she fouls the next two FB up and in, two curve balls away for balls...2-2 count and The Kid throws the screwball down and in,,,schwing and a miss for strike 3. (HC at this point has put his bownet behind the catcher to see it himself.) Catcher looks at her Dad and says, "That was siiiiick! That ball moved so much! OMG Dad! Did you see that?" She goes through the line up and strikes out a couple more, walks 2, gets two more to groundout, next two hit line drive singles, and she strikes out the last two. I posted that so that I could say this: ALL THE KID DOES TODAY, DFP AND IT'S PITCHING GURUS ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR. Their willingness to share such priceless information has transformed my DD into what is becoming a pretty good little pitcher. Mothgirl is her PC, without Cheri and all of her knowledge about the game Kaley would not be where she is right now. Javasource's drive mechanics thread now have The Kid exploding off the rubber without any trace of the crow hop she had 3 months ago. Rick Pauly's ideas on progressive long toss has increased her arm strength tremendously. Boardmember's IR thread is absolute gold. The model grips thread has taught her the proper way to hold the ball to maximize her spins. Riseball's insights on all things pitching have helped me see the game in a different way, and in doing so have helped me to help her. The Kid is a work in progress and at times I want to strangle her; but man, it does my heart good as a bucketdad when she is able to go out and do what she did on Saturday. Thank you DFP for all the help that you have given my daughter. You guys put the fire back in my baby girl's heart after so many told her she wasn't good enough. Hard work pays off! By the way, she made the team. Signed, Chuckaducky.
Soooooo,
Took The Kid to a tryout this weekend for one of the "Big Name" organizations. Sent HC video of The Kid ripping it off in my little brother's backyard prior to attending said tryout; HC responds to video with: "We can't wait to watch Kaley pitch live! Her form looks AMAZING!" We get to said tryout Saturday morning 45 minutes early so The Kid can warmup...looks like it's going to be one of those blah kinda days...Kid is throwing ok; she's doing well hitting her spots and the spin stuff looks ok. Coach runs them through a lot of infield/outfield/hitting drills, (This was a 6 hour practice). Then it comes time for live pitching. Dude walks out of the dugout with The Kid in the circle and he has a Pocket Radar in his hand. On the sly he guns her FB, I ask him what the speed was. "46". She throws several more and he guns those, too. "46"..."46"..."48"..."47"...then she throws the circle change..."38"...he looks at me and says, "Man, that's great. Damn near a 10 mile an hour difference in her FB and CU." So in walks one of his rostered power hitters. The Kid throws a FB inside. FOUL. Screwball up and in....schwing and a miss...here comes the change...wiff. And I mean, big, swinging clean out of her shoes wiff. Damn. The Kid is off and running. Said power hitter gets back in the box after her Dad talks to her. Screwball up and in. Wiff. CU up and in...wiff number two...screwball low and in and she missed it by a mile. Coach is grinning like a jackass eatin briars. Power hitter's Dad is standing right next to me at this point, and he's laughing, too. She looks back at him with that "Really" look on her face and her Dad says, "quit being all mad and hit the damn ball." The Kid steps back on the rubber and throws another CU down and away that ties her up again. Strike 1...Kid gets all juiced up and tries to crank two FB's back to back; hitter fouls them both off. She's got her on the ropes a 3rd time and tries to crank a screwball that breaks late...oops. Power hitter crushes it for an OTF HR. Kid starts giggling. Next girl gets in and she's got thump for days; in front toss this one cranked 5 out of 10 for OTF'ers...so The Kid parks a CU down and in for a swinging strike. Drop curve running down and away for another one, she fouls the next two FB up and in, two curve balls away for balls...2-2 count and The Kid throws the screwball down and in,,,schwing and a miss for strike 3. (HC at this point has put his bownet behind the catcher to see it himself.) Catcher looks at her Dad and says, "That was siiiiick! That ball moved so much! OMG Dad! Did you see that?" She goes through the line up and strikes out a couple more, walks 2, gets two more to groundout, next two hit line drive singles, and she strikes out the last two. I posted that so that I could say this: ALL THE KID DOES TODAY, DFP AND IT'S PITCHING GURUS ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR. Their willingness to share such priceless information has transformed my DD into what is becoming a pretty good little pitcher. Mothgirl is her PC, without Cheri and all of her knowledge about the game Kaley would not be where she is right now. Javasource's drive mechanics thread now have The Kid exploding off the rubber without any trace of the crow hop she had 3 months ago. Rick Pauly's ideas on progressive long toss has increased her arm strength tremendously. Boardmember's IR thread is absolute gold. The model grips thread has taught her the proper way to hold the ball to maximize her spins. Riseball's insights on all things pitching have helped me see the game in a different way, and in doing so have helped me to help her. The Kid is a work in progress and at times I want to strangle her; but man, it does my heart good as a bucketdad when she is able to go out and do what she did on Saturday. Thank you DFP for all the help that you have given my daughter. You guys put the fire back in my baby girl's heart after so many told her she wasn't good enough. Hard work pays off! By the way, she made the team. Signed, Chuckaducky.
