- Feb 3, 2011
- 1,880
- 48
You may have read my lamentations about a young, attention-seeking player who didn't want to bat, yet insisted to her mom and dad that she did like softball. As long as a kid says they're having fun, I'm going to continue doing my best to help develop their self-confidence with softball.
There were more struggles on Wednesday. We were up against a team with really poor pitching. Their starter was very slow, but my player still didn't want to get into the box. She finally did, but when their hard-throwing and very wild reliever came in later, she would not.
Nearing her wits' end, Mom sent me an email asking for any ideas I might have. Part of my philosophy is that fear at the plate often subsides when young players have confidence with throwing and catching, so I suggested playing catch more often at home, almost every day, if possible.
Friday night, we were facing a very solid, consistent pitcher. She's got good speed, but isn't going to hurt anyone if they get hit. My player took her at-bats, but was stepping out on every pitch and never swung.
We had to turn around and play again on Saturday morning and were facing the team with the 2 wild pitchers - 20 hit batters in their 1st 2 games of the season. In fact, the situation was so bad with coach and parent complaints that the league had to send out an email about it last week.
Their starter throws in the high-30s and was really on yesterday. She had 5 K's and only 2 walks through 2 innings. In her 1st at-bat, #7 stood in, swung her bat, and actually fouled one off. I was so proud of her! And I made sure she knew it.
Next at-bat, runner on 3rd with 2 down and the game tied, she hit a slow roller that both the pitcher and 1B converged on to record her 1st hit ever. I'm quite certain the crowds could hear me shouting at the other fields across town. That also turned out to be the game-winning RBI, so she was absolutely the hero of the day and the entire team (except 1 girl) and all the fans were so excited for her.
While I'm getting all my stuff together after the game, her dad comes up to me and says: "I owe the league one, because I took the game ball."
There were more struggles on Wednesday. We were up against a team with really poor pitching. Their starter was very slow, but my player still didn't want to get into the box. She finally did, but when their hard-throwing and very wild reliever came in later, she would not.
Nearing her wits' end, Mom sent me an email asking for any ideas I might have. Part of my philosophy is that fear at the plate often subsides when young players have confidence with throwing and catching, so I suggested playing catch more often at home, almost every day, if possible.
Friday night, we were facing a very solid, consistent pitcher. She's got good speed, but isn't going to hurt anyone if they get hit. My player took her at-bats, but was stepping out on every pitch and never swung.
We had to turn around and play again on Saturday morning and were facing the team with the 2 wild pitchers - 20 hit batters in their 1st 2 games of the season. In fact, the situation was so bad with coach and parent complaints that the league had to send out an email about it last week.
Their starter throws in the high-30s and was really on yesterday. She had 5 K's and only 2 walks through 2 innings. In her 1st at-bat, #7 stood in, swung her bat, and actually fouled one off. I was so proud of her! And I made sure she knew it.
Next at-bat, runner on 3rd with 2 down and the game tied, she hit a slow roller that both the pitcher and 1B converged on to record her 1st hit ever. I'm quite certain the crowds could hear me shouting at the other fields across town. That also turned out to be the game-winning RBI, so she was absolutely the hero of the day and the entire team (except 1 girl) and all the fans were so excited for her.
While I'm getting all my stuff together after the game, her dad comes up to me and says: "I owe the league one, because I took the game ball."
