Softball revenge stories

[MsDinosaur]

I thought maybe I was the one who wanted revenge more than DD until I saw her play against her old team...

Back in first year 12U, DD struggled with ankle problems (Sever's disease). She couldn't catch for a while, but I switched her to a 'kinder' cleat and she did physical therapy, etc. Her first time back (yes, she was rusty), a high pitch tipped off her glove and she got pulled. They put in the third string catcher, who, unfortunately, let so many passed balls by, that the other team took an enormous lead. Eventually, they put DD back in--to what point, I don't know! Though there weren't any more passed balls. After that game, they wouldn't put her behind the plate at all. They took her out of the lineup for a while, though they did eventually decide they wanted her bat and put her back in.

We decided to quietly play out the season and leave. At one of the later tourneys, however, the team was in the semi-final game against a team they had beaten earlier. The catcher they were fond of strained her arm and couldn't go on. DD was sitting on the bench, rested and fresh, having played only 1? 2? innings in RF. Instead, they took the SS, who was their 4th catcher and had been playing hard all day, and moved her behind the plate, shuffling other girls around to cover the IF. You can imagine what followed... Passed balls, bad throws, leaky infield. The other team ended up at a track meet where they won by double-digits. Our girls felt so bad they were reluctant to accept their third place medals or take pictures with the trophy.

I'm not proud of this, but I lost it. I took a coach aside and told him we'd gotten the message loud and clear that DD wasn't wanted or welcome and that yes, we would be gone at the end of the season. But I begged him to please give DD some catching time in the last few games so that she'd be in better shape for tryouts. They did start letting her catch after that and I'm grateful. In fact, once they started having her catch, she caught most of the remaining games and they gave her tons of praise.

In retrospect, perhaps I should have told them sooner that we had decided to leave?

Anyhow, the first time DD's new team played her old one, DD was a blocking, throwing, threatening monster behind the plate. :-D Sure, I'd seen her play hard, but not quite like this. Best moment was when they got suckered in on a trick play and sent the runner from third on a fake throw-down that went to the second baseman for a throw home instead. DD loved making that tag. Hehehehe

 

[JAD]

You bringing this up AGAIN (Colorado brag thread)?! lol Like I replied then, that was supposedly a team from a respected NorCal org you beat, however I'm still surprised a SJ Sting team did so poorly overall. Maybe they sold their berth to the 14U team...

You need to understand we're in SoCal and we reserve the right to pick and choose which NorCal teams represent our great state, so we disavow the team you beat and only recognize the Lady Magic team that won the championship.

OK, so this post reminded me of a "proud dad/revenge" moment for my DD. Last year my DD picked up with a team to play in the IDT in Boulder, CO (double bonus: I got to hang out with 29Dad at the ballpark). She was the starting pitcher in the pool game against the Corona Angels. She shut them down for 4 innings and we were up 4-0. Head coach brought in her #1 pitcher in the 5th inning. She struggled and gave up two runs, so we are up 4-2. In the 6th and final inning (time limited games) the Corona Angles had runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out. Coach brings my DD back in to close out the game. DD gets the first batter to ground back to her, holding the runner at 3B with a great "look the runner back" then gun out the batter at 1B. Then she strikes out the last batter on one of the best riseballs she has ever thrown. To say I was proud would be an understatement. My DD, who played for a Tier-2 TB organization had just beaten the Corona Freakin' Angels, and the best part is there were @ 15 college coaches in the stands watching!

 

[SoCal_Dad]

OP needs to remember pitchers shouldn't gloat until they're done. Hitters can gloat over a single AB, but pitchers don't have that luxury.

I don't recall any games where we were looking for redemption against former coaches/teams. There were quite a few where we enjoyed taking down teams that were very full of themselves. The one that comes to mind was way back in 10U all stars when we played in a tourney down south. During our first bracket game Sunday morning, girls from a nearby league went up to our dugout and said a bunch of unpleasant things to our girls until the coaches shooed them away. We ended up playing them in the championship game and won easily.

 

[guero_gordo]

DD's worst coach also sold drugs while on duty as a cop, and is currently employed making license plates.

 

[Top_Notch]

I'll have to update this post during the summer. My DD tried out for two local 8U travel teams. One she did 3 two hour tryouts, so her abilities were quite clear. The team we wanted to join stressed "no politics" and "development". The manager did bad mouth the cross town rival as "trophy chasers". (Which I thought was odd) Of 16 girls, she did not make the cut of 13, which was ludicrous. He totally politicked his team choices. So we ended up joining the "trophy chaser" team.

We could not have been luckier. Our team has some great talent. We even have one player from the "other" team. One coach is a former D1 College softball player. We will get to play them this year in a tournament. (They refuse to scrimmage against us otherwise, even though we are crosstown). We'll be out for blood. I'd bet DD gets the start, and she can bring it, and she will. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Revenge is a dish best served COLD! Especially if it's revenge for something malicious done to you and/or yours.

 

[SBmom8992]

DD was the ONE player in her age group who didn't make the town travel team when attempting to move from rec to travel last spring. So, she decided to try her hand at pitching and did fairly well in the rec program spring season. Later last year in the fall she was placed on the "B" travel team which was comprised mostly of girls moving up from 8U. Since our 8U program is coach pitch, DD was placed on the team since she had pitching experience in rec. Before the season started, DD's B team scrimmaged the A team which was made up primarily of the girls who made the travel team the previous spring. DD pitched the first two innings, recorded 6 K's with 1 foul tip being the only contact the other team made. We won 6-0.

 

[slingnit]

DD's former team was pretty good team but filled with spoiled kids and snooty parents that believed the world began and ended in Hooterville, OK. Very clickish small town team. DD had chance to play against them as pick up player for very avg team. Coach let dd pitch the game and she was pumped. DD threw a one hitter, giving up a bunt for a single that eventually scored. Lost the game 1-0 but made a big statement that they were missing out. And to top it off she asked if she could hit from the left side because she didnt want the slow pitching to mess up her timing from the right side. She went 2-3 and made sure everyone on her former team, and especially the pitcher's dad, know exactly why she went lefty for the game.

 

[Rocketech1]

DDs first year pitching in 8U and the team already had three pitchers. The coaches made all kinds of excuses why DD shouldn't pitch: can't throw strikes, can't field her position, blah blah blah. I immediately got DD lessons and practically begged and pleaded to the coaches to give her an inning in the circle. First game, she gets one inning. 2 strikeouts and a hit batter. No runs scored. By the end of the season she was clearly the #1 and the coaches had no other choice but to pitch her the maximum number of innings which was 3 innings per game. Later that year she was selected to the all star team and while being the youngest player on the team she pitched as much as the older pitchers and held her own even earning MVP one game.

Having coaches tell her she wasn't good enough was one of the best things that has happened to her and she has worked hard ever since to earn her position in the circle and prove her critics wrong.

 

[Jquick823]

My DD started catching about 2 years ago. During her first spring season as a catcher some parents were sitting behind my wife making comments about how my DD shouldn't be catching and she isn't good enough to be behind the plate. My wife said nothing as she knew telling me and my DD would only motivate us to ram it in their face more. During that spring season my DD became the #1 catcher and that pissed off everyone and the comments kept coming. I addressed this with the president of the ORG and was told "that's part of travel ball". Well fast forward to 1 month ago when the president of the previous org called me to ask if there was room for her DD on the new team I coach on. Since this isn't about the kids and was a parent issue I happily passed on the info about the player to the manager.

The first time this parent walked in the building I made sure to say hi and be polite... well as polite as any NY'er can be . The only person this parent want's catching her DD is my DD. Revenge is a dish best served with a big pile of F U on top.