Game 3 last week had to be "called" as it rained.
Game 4, yesterday, was an amazing game for our team.
We practice on Monday nights. Basically we now have a system in place so that the kids stay interested and get some one on one instruction. One of the parents of my kids helps out by manning the "T" and has one line for batsmen and about 4 kids shagging down the hits. Roughly 4 kids are in line to hit. This leaves 3 kids for me to pay particular attention to. Everyone is rotated throughout the practice getting a chance to hit, shag balls and then have some time with me.
The 3 kids I have are thrown groundballs constantly by me. The object is to simply stop the ball and throw it back to me as quickly as possible, simulating a throw to first base. While doing this I will watch the kids and then if necessary tell two of them to play a bit of "catch" while I spend some time with the one I feel needs some additional instruction.
Our little system works really well and the dividends paid off this Saturday. The kids were amazing. We got more outs than the other team had hits. One of my girls, playing in the infield, was frankly outstanding. She got 5 or 6 outs by stopping grounders and throwing on to first base. Even the opposing team's parents were really impressed with my team. I could hear them nattering away throughout the game.
My guys were also outstanding with their bats. I think we had 3 occasions where the ball was called "foul" because the T was hit rather than the ball and it didn't make the mandatory 10 feet away from the plate to make it a "fair ball". The rest of the time they were hammering the ball into play with many of them making it way into the outfield. This was in sharp contrast to the other team. At times it was an almost painful wait for their batsmen to make decent contact. Swing - miss. Swing - hit the T...time and time again.
My kids are so tired of hearing me say "Keep your eye on the ball" that they automatically look at me and say "I know, I know...eye on the ball" before I can say anything. I don't even bother to turn the ball to place the logo where they need to hit it on the T for most of them anymore...it isn't necessary. They get up to the plate and 9 times out of 10 make good contact.
The BEST part about the whole thing is that the kids all get along really well, they have a great time and before and after the games I have a hard time walking around because I will inevitably have one of them hugging me. Great bunch of kids!!!
