Payton’s All-Star Season

The All-Star season for softball came to an end last weekend. Payton’s team won their last tournament at Bellwood. They finished in second place at their own tournament, and did not place at the first tournament (they crushed in pool play, then played poorly the first game, and lost to a team they beat easily the day before).  The team was 9-4, and their last tournament, they won three games on Sunday (three games on a hot day was a bit much, if we would have lost the last game, we would have played again…yikes).

So how did Payton do? She hit .500 (19/38). She scored ten times, and knocked in seven. She did strike out five times, which was tied for third on the team. For full transparency, the highest batting average on the team was .864. In the field, she made some nice plays. She mostly played the outfield, and any balls that came out to her, she made sure to keep them in front of her, and throw them in quickly. She did play 2B and 3B a few times, and she made a few outs. She had two nice plays on the final day.

The first was a ground ball between her and the first baseman. Payton slid (I think she tripped, but she swears she slid to stop the ball), then threw off her knees to get the runner. There was a hard hit ball to her at third, and she fielded it nicely, stepped on third base to make the final out of the tournament. She was excited about that one. 

These tournaments helped her improve, particularly with fielding and throwing. Hitting is still iffy, she is swinging harder, and she did hit two balls that made it to the outfield during the last tournament (I tried to send her to second, but the girl in front of her held up at second). But I think the cool thing, is she is more self aware of her own skills. She knows where she has to get better, and she asked me the other day if I thought she was ready to go up to 10U. We talked about it, and I asked what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to stay down another year. Not because she is afraid of the pitching, but because she still has so much to learn and improve upon. I was proud of her for thinking of it that way, instead of just “I want to move up because some of my friends are going up.” 

It was a fun All-Star season, and she made some great friends during our time. It was also a nice experience for myself. The coaches were great, and we are already coming up with something to work on during the Fall if any girls want to continue improving their skills.