Monday brag 6-26-17

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Apr 26, 2015
704
43
DD had a great weekend. She has been working hard to prove to her coach that she should be the starting catcher. This weekend she more than proved it as she was pulled in to "relieve" the other catcher and caught 5 full games on her own. The other catcher made it thru 1.5. DD is small and doesn't have quite the arm that the other catcher has (although her arm is pretty amazing) bit she is smart and fast! She threw 1 out at 2nd, 1 out at 1st and had 2 pop up foul catches.

After the game we were walking out to the car to go grab lunch and the ump from her game came over and thanked her for "protecting him so well". He said "umps talk and I knew when I came to your game that I was in good hands". He told her that just looking at her he was worried but he was assured by others that she did her job well. She was beaming.

So that was all good - but - what was even more amazing were her plays in LF. She made an amazing diving/sliding catch for an out and on the next hit made another great backhanded catch for the out.

IMG_6135.jpg

And then...we were getting ready to drive out of the parking lot after the games when a man came up and opened DD's door. He told her "I couldn't let you leave without telling you that you made a couple spectacular catches today in the OF. You should be very proud of yourself". It was the ump from the game she had just finished. She couldn't believe she was thanked/recognized by 2 umps in 2 days. Pretty good couple of days for Dd.

She also had a decent weekend at the plate. Nothing fantastic but got on base on all but one at bat.

And to brag on the team a little... they are the comeback team. They battled back from a 15-3 deficit to win the game that put them in the championship. They just like to keep things exciting!

The team went on to take 2nd to a team they always play very competitively with.
 
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Mar 20, 2014
918
28
Northwest
DD's TB team played in an in-state USA(ASA) softball national qualifier this weekend. We won this tournament last year but DD is one of only two returning players from that team (they were all graduated seniors except DD, the #2 pitcher and two other girls that decided not to play softball their senior year or in college). We ended up coming up thru the loser's bracket to play in the championship game against a team that we lost to in day one 9-4 so we had to beat them twice to win the tournament. I guess this team is a Sunday team because they played unbelievable softball outscoring our opponents 43-10 to win the tournament for the second year in a row in very high temps (we walked off the field with the trophy and it was 101 degrees). DD batted .412 for the weekend with 2 HRs and 9 RBIs.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
Not much to brag about except one game.

At the last tournament, the coach was wondering why the girls weren't hitting. Their bats seemed dead. The pitching was pretty good, but one of the starters (DD 3, alas) was too preoccupied with other problems in her life, and wasn't 100% there mentally. There were also fielding errors by some of the girls. The whole team seemed a bit out of it.

Got to double elimination bracket play. Lost the first game because the girls weren't completely in the game.

That afternoon, DD 3 pitching, bats asleep. The team had bases loaded with one out, couldn't score. Down 0-4 to a very beatable team. Coach replaced DD 3 with the other starter, the bats came alive, they won 5-4.

The next game was one of those games the girls will never forget. The start was delayed about 45 minutes because of a brief rain storm, but the fields were still dry. The other starter was pitching, and did a great job, but the other team's pitching was too strong. Down 0-3 to a stronger team.

Then it started to rain again. That seemed to flick a switch with the girls. The other team's pitcher was struggling in the mud, suddenly 2-3 with bases loaded and 2 outs. DD 3 at bat, told the coach she would get a hit and knock in 2 runs. Instead she got a double, 3 RBI. DD 3 says she seemed to swing better in the mud. The other pitcher complained, and they stopped the game until the rain stopped, but the field was still muddy. The other team got the 3rd out soon after.

DD 3's team's starter was also struggling in the mud. DD 3 plays her best in the mud, and the coach sometimes calls her "Mudder". Her team's starter almost got out of the next inning, but there were some very questionable (and probably wrong) calls by the umpire that gave new life to the other team. They tied it up, when if the calls had been correct the starter could've gotten out of it.

Finally, with 2 runs scored, only 1 out, and 2 runners on, the coach calls in "Mudder", DD 3. "Mudder" shut down the other team. Next inning, the girl who started hit a lead-off triple, and scored to put them up 6-5, but "Mudder" allowed the tying run, now 6-6. She almost allowed the winning run, but questioned a call, and the umpires (probably incorrectly) agreed with her, calling a runner out on interference and bringing the girl who had presumably scored back to third. The girl who was called out on interference was only on base because of another bad call by the umpires, so that bad call in our favor just canceled out a bad call made against us. "Mudder" struck out the next two girls, and the game went to ITB rules.

Things looked bad when the girl our team got to put on second was, by far, the slowest girl on the team, but she managed to score, up 7-6. Then "Mudder" came alive in the circle, retiring the top of the order for the other team. Game over. Not the best win ever, but the most exciting win. The girls were finally focused, DD 3 forgot all about her problems in life, and everyone was happy.

Until the next day when they had to play a very early game on almost no sleep, and I won't talk about that game.
 
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Jan 22, 2011
1,610
113
So proud of these young women. They lost a heart breaker in the 7th inning Friday to the eventual NorCal 12u B champions. They battled back for 6 straight wins to take 3rd. It was my profound honor to be the HC of 8 of these special young ladies the summer of 2013. Go Nova!

2017.jpg2013b.jpg
 
Nov 4, 2015
320
43
Congrats, but i have to ask. Are the coaches short or is your 12u team really that big? HA! Looks nothing like our 12u, but most of ours were 11 years old.
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
Yeah, those girls look BIG, some of them. But that happens that age. I lost track of how many girls in the 12U bracket have had enormous growth spurts. One rather large girl on the local HS team grew about 7 inches between fall ball and spring ball when she was 12U.
 
Jan 22, 2011
1,610
113
The tallest girls are about 5'4". My daughter grew 3 inches from Christmas to Easter, and at least 5 inches end of last July to Easter..... and I don't think we have measured her since Easter. There are teams in 12u that make our team look small!
 
Jul 14, 2010
150
18
First ever family DD reaching the finals! Lost 4-3 in 7 - multiple chances to win. DD2 caught 22 innings over 7 games (13 innings on Sunday) - caught 2 of 6 attempting to steal - picked off 1 at 1B - 14 PO - 4 A - and one DP (sac fly out at the plate). Weekend batting was eh - but 2 clutch doubles and SAC fly to tie up last game - can't complain as she's still batting .429 for the season. Great positive coaching! What a difference a year and organization can make!
 

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