- Apr 1, 2010
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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
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
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