Softball & Baseball Season!

Softball and baseball season came to an end for the kids this week. They both lost in the semifinals of the playoffs in their respective leagues. Payton was in her second year of 8U Softball (coach pitch). She played for the same team as last year, but she had a new head coach…me! Logan finished his final year of t-ball, but was called up to play in a bunch of games for Single-A (coach pitch) baseball. By the end of the year, he was basically an honorary member of the one team. 

Payton
I was asked to take over the team from last year since the previous coach’s kid aged out of 8U. Our team was fairly young this year, but we managed to go 6-7-1. The weather early in the year messed up a bunch of our practices, so we came into the season with very little experience. But as the season went on, my girls got better each and every game, and even though they were young, they fought hard even in the games we lost. 

Last year, Payton had seven hits. Her swing was ugly, she could not throw, and there was no chance of letting her play in the infield. I am not trying to be mean, but she was not very good. When the season ended, she said she wanted to keep working on her swing. We would hit in the yard, and after a while she started hitting much better. The first practice this year, she was still stepping out when she would swing, but one of the coaches worked with her (he used a hit stick and a few tips like holding the bat behind her back to help get that footwork right. It clicked for her, and she started making consistent contact.

How much did it help? She hit .591 for the season, with 26 hits. They were all singles, but she did have a few line drives that I thought would get to the outfield, but they were against good teams who were able to knock it down. She only struck out 13 times. She scored seven times, but also had nine RBIs. Some of that was on me since I moved her around in the lineup. Early in the year she was hitting 6th, then I bumped her to leadoff, then dropped her to 3rd for the last couple of games. 

In the field, I had her most of the season at center field. She was a little salty about it because she felt the outfield was where you put the bad players. But I told her that I needed her to be a leader out there to the younger girls, and to back up our SS and 2B when balls were hit to them. She did that, and then one game I had her play at the pitcher position (in coach pitch, you still have a girl near the coach pitching as a fielder–for those of you who do not know). She fielded a few balls, but her arm is still weak. Then a few games ago, I had her play 3B. She made a bunch of nice plays, and was able to make force outs (usually at third). She had a few throws that almost got someone out at second. She even played SS one of the games when our best player was not able to make it. I feel confident for next year that we can work on her throwing, and she can play a middle infield position. 

One thing I love about Payton is that she is always so positive. When she comes up to bat, she is smiling, I usually say “you ready, goober?” And she smiles and nods. She is also fantastic under pressure. I wish I knew how many hits she had with two strikes, or how many hits came with two outs.

Logan
Lindsey and I debated having Logan play t-ball this year, or just going right to Single-A. We let it up to him, and he said he wanted to play t-ball with his friends. I started the year pitching underhand to him. Then he got called up for a Single-A game, and I saw how far away they pitch, and about how fast. After that, I started throwing like that, and he kept hitting. 

Like I said, he played in a bunch of Single-A games for two different teams. He ended the season with seven hits and a .269 AVG. Not too bad for a young five-year-old. Yes, he had the same amount of hits as Payton in her first year of softball. If Payton had been called up from t-ball, she would have struck out every time. One thing that helped Logan was coming out in the yard and hitting when I would pitch to Payton. At first, I would move in and pitch a little slower (we just used her softballs, since I have a big bucket of them), but then he started getting cocky, and saying how he was hitting more than his sister. So I moved back to where I pitch for Payton, and he continued hitting. I think that really helped him. 

The cool thing is that he loves to play, and he wants someone to pitch to him all the time. Or he wants me to throw a ball to him. He is still young, and I just try to focus on contact, and swinging hard. We can work on mechanics when he is a little older, but right now, just swing hard and hit the ball. 

Next year he heads to Single-A. I will definitely help coach, hopefully they have enough head coaches and I do not need to coach two teams. I just do not know how I would do it with my work schedule. I could make it work, but it will be tough. Weirdly enough, I do like coaching. Although, I need to work on my pre- and post-game speeches.