The Saga of Rebuilding a School Program: A parent-coach's journal

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Jan 25, 2022
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So, after getting 0 hits and only spoiling the opponent's average pitcher's perfect game by the grace of a walk, our girls proceeded to come out Friday night and beat the absolute pi$$ out of the ball. The only change made was they spent Thursday's practice taking cuts at 55-60mph from the pitching machine. Even DD 2 one hopped to the fence in the JV game. The weight room time was definitely showing. She's swinging with some confidence. She pitched 3 innings of JV. A couple strikeouts, 4 walks and 2 HBP. She beaned one of them right in the head. I knew she would come out there a bit rough from lack of work, and it showed. I took some slo mo of her after practice Thursday and she's got some new glove arm funk going on, and turning her torso around pretty badly. I figured I would see FSR problems, but it was actually solid. Overall, nothing insurmountable if we can get a few workouts in. Unfortunately we won't have an opportunity until Wednesday.

The game itself ended in a heartbreaker 11-10 loss. At one point we had a 6 run lead, but our opponent managed to start making contact and had one of those really crappy 2 out free-for-alls and got up on us by 1 run, which we managed to tie, followed by them getting 1 more and us not quite able to do anything in the bottom of the 7th. But boy did the girls hit. 17 hits, legit, and our best hitter was out sick. Our bookkeeper doesn't give credit for hits on error. They used the same pitcher they've had the past few years. She's generally pretty tough.

Our opponent managed 15 hits, almost all of which were in the 5th inning. We scored one of those an error and they had some junk contact the infield couldn't get to fast enough. Overall it was very encouraging to see our girls, having had to replace four 2022 starters (five that night with the cheerleader sick), manage to hit like that in their second game.

Saturday was a triangle. We visited a local powerhouse to play them, along with another visiting team that we thought we may have a shot at.

Oddly enough, our girls went right back to smacking the ball vs the powerhouse. They threw their ace against us and we hit her well. It was 5-4 in their favor going into the bottom of the third, then the wheels just completely fell off. It was 32 degrees with relentless wind. I was miserable, so I can only imagine how crappy it was for the girls. They got a quick two outs, then had a couple errors, then a headwind started sending everything to the fence and it was another two out slaughter. They ended up with three OTF homeruns. One of their girls hit two of them, then she hit two against team 3 later. The host team ended up sending nine balls over the fence on the day. Bruisers. Their coach did his best to end that 12 run inning for us, and the girls eventually finally got that third out.

DD2 got in for an at-bat. She was aggressive and fouled three off. The last pitch jammed her up inside and she went down looking. Later she said "I got standing in there funny and before I could fix it she pitched, and as soon as she let go I knew I was too close to the plate."

As much as it sucks to go down looking, it was great to hear her say that. She's finally starting to think at the plate beyond the "is it a ball or a strike" mentality.

The host brought out their #2 pitcher to play team 3 and got themselves in a bit of trouble. Team 3 saved their better pitcher for us (also I'm sure thinking they had a shot vs us later), but their #2 was doing fine for a bit. The powerhouse eventually brought their #1 back out and got control of things, ending up winning by four runs or so.

So bringing us to our game vs Team 3. It was a solid effort on both sides. We used pitcher #2 vs their #1. Both teams hit well, and our coach subbed in runners as much as possible. We have a lot of speed in-general, but there's a lot of it on the bench so he got them in there whenever possible. We got up 15-6 then into a bit of trouble and gave up three more. Coming into the top of the 7th he sent our #1 out. She was coming off 130 pitches friday and 120 in game 1 vs the host, but I thought it was a good idea. Give team 3 something a bit faster and with more movement. She fanned the first two and I was thinking again how it was a great idea, then some hits and walks and suddenly it's 15-12. There we were in yet another two out melee. The bases were loaded up for the second time that inning, but finally someone popped out.

So we got a W against a decent team, and nearly got a W Friday against a team that I think is slightly better than team 3. The record now sits at 1-3. Tonight we play the team we scrimmaged against a couple weeks ago. The team we lost to Friday run-ruled tonight's opponent so we're optimistic. Just gotta keep those sticks going and I think we'll do fine.

End of long-winded report...
 
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Jan 25, 2022
880
93
"It was 32 degrees with relentless wind."

I love softball but I simply could not watch or play in those conditions.

Had they not pushed the game out an hour, it would have been 24...lol

At least the sun was out about half the time. The wind blew up to 30mph or so almost nonstop from the 11am to 6pm I was there. I've sat through some really uncomfortable games the past few year, but that one was easily the worst. The key to survival is Hot Hands (and Hot toes) packets, blankets, and periodically going to warm up in the truck. I left there and went to an indoor concert and kept my coat on the entire time. It took forever to get back to normal.

It got under 40 at home Friday night as well. I have mild Reynaud's, so I had two fingers that had turned white-ish and I couldn't seem to get them back to normal despite the hot hands in my mittens. DD2 comes over asking me to warm her up. I didn't want to walk to the truck so I grabbed an old, very worn TPX catcher's mitt from the dugout and she proceeded to send one down the pipe that hit me in the glove right where one of those fingers was.

Should get under 40 at tonight's game, and probably Tuesday. We may survive Friday and Saturday. It could get as high as 60. The weather here is crazy. Just after Christmas we had three days below zero, and four days after that it was 74.
 
Sep 3, 2015
372
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"It was 32 degrees with relentless wind."

I love softball but I simply could not watch or play in those conditions.

Was at DDs games yesterday, 38 degrees, “feels like” 30. Yikes. I tried. Watched from the car and on the conference stream. At least Friday and Saturday were ok.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Jan 25, 2022
880
93
Was at DDs games yesterday, 38 degrees, “feels like” 30. Yikes. I tried. Watched from the car and on the conference stream. At least Friday and Saturday were ok.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like to be close to the action. Plus I feel like the kids are probably more miserable, although the new pitcher's dad has been bringing them a heater. At that site there's really not watching from the car if you want to keep your windshield. Our game 2 pitcher's grandpa lost a side mirror that day.
 
Jan 25, 2022
880
93
Well...it's been a wild couple days.

Monday was the first division game for the high school. It was the team we scrimmaged a couple weeks ago. We were told that with out starting lineup we should be able to beat them, because the team we lost to by one run on Friday had beaten them by run-rule.

It was not to be so, though. Our #2 pitcher GOT the start. Overall, she did well throughout. defensively we started great, then the wheels fell off again. We were up 1-0 going into the 3rd, but they made a run on us due to some errors and bad judgement calls, and we hadn't capitalized on some walks they gave us. Suddenly it was 6-1.

It was the 4th or 5th inning, and we managed to get the bases loaded up. The cheerleader steps to the plate. She's killing the ball now, so I figured we'd get a run or two. She sent the second pitch over LF fence and bounced it off a picnic table about 220ft out. A grand slam and a huge shift in momentum.

We eked out another run, but in the top of the 7th they made it 7-7. We managed to load the bases up with two outs, and the girl who had only one hit all last season is up to the plate. She had gone 4 for 5 over the weekend, and had beaten the crap out of the ball Friday, so I was cautiously optimistic. I also found out that her mom is now paying her $20 per hit. For real. I don't think she had any idea what she was getting into with that deal. But hey...the motivation is real...gas ain't cheap.

She proceeds to a 2-2 count, then jacks one to the absolute back corner of LF. Dropped it right beside the line and in front of the fence. Walk off double. Absolute mayhem (by our standards at least).

JV game time.

DD2 was set to pitch. Near the end of the varsity game we got in the outdoor cage to warm her up. The JV catcher was out playing 2B. DD2 has been stressing about not playing any varsity. It's a long story, but the long and short of it is that she's getting to pitch every JV game and she's in the 9th grade and sitting the bench is part of being in 9th grade. She's never been in this position because we were so far behind as a program that she was always in the better group. Anyway, she started verbalizing and saying she doesn't know why she plays because it stresses her out so much, etc, etc, and that she should just quit. Since I'm tired of having that discussion, I told her to quit, and that I was ok with it, and I'd ask the coach to just sit her the rest of the season and she could ride the bench and not have to stress about any of it anymore.

So then she decided maybe she just needed to take next season off.

Then she decided that she would only get worse as a player if she did that, so it wasn't a good idea.

Then she decided she wasn't going to quit, but she was still mad. 15 year olds...sheesh.

The whole time this argument is going on, she's throwing standing windmills and they're coming in hot, and right down the pipe almost every time. My glove is cracking like a .22 (because I'm highly skilled at snap catching, of course). Angry pitching...I love it.

She throws me 10 or so full pitches, and most of them are great. So we head back over to the field and watch that wild ending and she goes out to do her thing.

She proceeded to walk out there and fan the first two batters. Hardest I've ever seen her throw. She normally cruises right at 45, and I'm positive she was hitting 47-48 if not a bit more. I know this isn't a high number for a 15 year old, but for a kid who's been pitching for two years and completely changed her mechanics between August and March and doesn't whip, I was pumped. The other parents looked over at me like WTF and I'm like "We argued in the dugout because she threatened to quit and I called her bluff. I'm gonna find a way to make her made before every game now!"

So she struck out 6 and only gave up like one decent hit, and some junk contact otherwise. Ran the infield, controlled the pace, etc. I was pumped. So of course she gets in the truck for the ride home and she's still mad and has tears in her eyes. Mad at herself I guess? I dunno. It was fine though because it only takes 90 seconds to get home.

Later I shall share our second district game wrap-up, which was last night. Absolutely the worst umpiring I've ever seen. Police were involved, etc. It was absurd.
 
Sep 3, 2015
372
63
I like to be close to the action. Plus I feel like the kids are probably more miserable, although the new pitcher's dad has been bringing them a heater. At that site there's really not watching from the car if you want to keep your windshield. Our game 2 pitcher's grandpa lost a side mirror that day.

At least the kids are moving around, and they have a heater in the dugout.

Next time I’ll take a lap between innings like the players. My DD is a pitcher, I normally will be somewhere down the line


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Jan 25, 2022
880
93
At least the kids are moving around, and they have a heater in the dugout.

Next time I’ll take a lap between innings like the players. My DD is a pitcher, I normally will be somewhere down the line


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Our home dugout (like many I'm sure) has the locker room and bathroom for them so they can step in there periodically. Away games are another animal. Plus they kept kicking the heater off by getting too close. The safety features on it are super sensitive. The dad kept having to go back in and light it.
 

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