The Saga of Rebuilding a School Program: A parent-coach's journal
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So I totally screwed up the ending of the previous game. It was 10-9 at the end. We were down by 1 with two outs in the bottom of the 7th when our kid hit the two run double.
Also, the MS team won their first game. The kid I've been teaching to pitch struggled in the first inning, but after that she struck out 10 and if I recall correctly (because I was told last night and dont have that kind of memory), they won 17-5.
Anyway...back to Tuesday night's chaos.
At this point the HS is 3-2, having won our first district game and now playing our second. Let me reiterate, I (and others...maybe everyone) wasn't sure how this team would play. Three senior starters were replaced, and only one of the girls filling a spot has more than one season of experience playing ball. If I was laying money on it, I wouldn't have guaranteed any district wins and only maybe beating the perennial doormat types. I knew we would have experienced pitching, but I didn't think we'd hit the ball as well as we have so far.
The team we played Tuesday is generally a bottom 3-4 team in the region and last or next to last in the district. They beat us both games last season, but I believe both went the distance. Their pitcher from last season graduated, and their MS team has probably lost every game for at least the past five seasons. In-fact, that's the team our MS was beating Tuesday at home while we were at their HS field.
So the HS game started out pretty typical. A little contact, a hit here and there, etc. Cheerleader put a foul ball over the LF fence, then got out two pitches later on a fly ball right at the fence. We managed to get a run, I believe in the 2nd inning. Sometime in the 3rd, they have runners on 1st and 2nd and the girl hits one OTF. Everyone is going nuts (their fans get rowdy) and amidst the chaos, their batter runs right past the girl who was still leading off at 1st. She had delayed waiting to see if the ball was caught. They quickly realized what they had done and got back in the correct order. Out comes our HC to discuss it.
I know the lead runner is out if they get passed, but I'd never even considered the absurdity of this happening during an OTF homerun. I honestly didn't think it mattered. I looked it up, and apparently someone lost a grand slam back in the 70's because of it. Batter had a single, and the runner that was passed was out.
In our game, the umpire stuck to it. He had already been getting a lot of grief because of inconsistent pitch judgement. He's a pretty young guy as best I can tell, and his partner is a legit 83 years old. Not kidding. Based on previous interactions, I like the older guy and he's a decent ump, but he's clearly not jacked up on modafinil and supplemental testosterone like our commander in chief, so he's not exactly able to hit his spots for an optimal vantage point.
HC is fired up, but doesn't take it too far verbally. He does, however, smack a bucket on the way into the dugout. One bad call had taken the game from 1-0 good guys, to 4-1 bad guys. The older ump immediately shuffles over and lays into him. It was pretty impressive. Gotta respect the guy. Probably been doing it for over 50 years. He told me later that he also refs for basketball. I have no idea how that's possible but if he's 83 and umpiring then I can't put anything out of the realm of possibility.
Things settle a bit, but momentum has clearly swayed. The girls didn't make 8 errors as they had on Monday, but they had a few bloopers not go their way, etc.
As the game went on, more complaints about the plate ump occurred, and our opponent HC was ordered (by the older ump) to return to his dugout after trying to appeal one of our runners being called safe at 3B. He also at one point called attention to the fact that our pitcher wasn't pausing between stepping on the rubber and starting her windup. The plate ump addressed it and the opposing coach decided to announce that she had already done it 73 times.
So about a minute later, one of our parents walked over from behind the backstop to where I was on the other side of the dugout with his chair and said "ump just kicked me out so I'm gonna hide over here," I laughed, thinking it was a joke. About two minutes later a cop walks over and motions to him and tells him he's gotta go. Where that cop came from, I have no idea. This is the last dude you'd expect to get kicked out, too. He said all he did was yell to the ump not to let the opposing HC tell him what to do. He may have even been paying the price for something someone else said. It was really getting rowdy over there, but mostly from the opponent fans. Our crew really is pretty tame. Personally, I don't say much at all. Umps have a tough enough job as it is. This dude was bad, though.
As if it couldn't get any worse (and it always can), one of our girls takes a pitch to the leg. I think it was actually before one of the nicest guys around got booted. It also happened to be his daughter. The takes a pitch to her front leg on the shin. She's tough, and tosses the bat and heads to first base. Then...
"DEAD BALL. BATTER LIFTED HER LEG INTO THE PITCH. IT'S A BALL. RETURN TO THE PLATE."
I guess lifting a leg to load up for a swing without leaving the box is now a criminal offense.
More discussions. I heard our HC say "so lemme make sure on this. Lifting your foot to swing while getting hit is illegal? Ok. Just making sure."
That same girl was hit on the same leg in the next two at-bats. Last season she was the state leader in HBP. I'd say she's in the running for 2023 as well. She's also the one getting paid $20 per hit so she didn't far too well last night from a financial standpoint.
Let me also say, every time the opponent's 1B coach walked over, he was shaking his head and had this face that said "you guys are really getting hosed, but I'm not saying anything."
All this time, our catcher had taken so many foul tips to the thighs that she had to stop and let herself cry. It was hard to watch, but she got back to her usual savage self and got back in there.
So, to quote myself from earlier...."As if it couldn't get any worse (and it always can)"
It did...
Somewhere around the 6th inning, we're down two with two (edit..ONE out) outs and runners on 1st and 2nd. Our batter hits this nice little pop-up that I could immediately tell was gonna drop. CF, RF and 2B all converged about 15 feet into the grass about 3/4 of the way between 1st and 2nd, but none of them quite got there. Two runs score. At that point we either got the lead, or maybe tied it. I can't recall specifically.
Our parents are going nuts. Their people are finally silent, then our hero pipes up again...
INFIELD FLY RULE! BATTER IS OUT!
Everyone lost it. My wife was the first. She had literally asked me to explain IFR about 10 minutes earlier so she was armed with knowledge. Add this to the fact that she and I had initally (before I googled) disagreed over whether the homerun incident was an out (she was right), and she was jacked-up with enough rule-knowledge confidence to kill an elephant.
Pandemonium erupts on the opponent side. Plate ump's egregious calls had altered the game by 4 runs in their favor.
By this point, our girls were getting deflated, our coaches were spent, one or our parents was exiled a few hundred feet away, starving and thirsty for lack of access to the snack bar (or possibly just chillin in his car watching the game-changer broadcast). Even I was feeling it a bit. Monday night had been enough of a thriller already, so my softball adrenal glands were probably taking out loans from my dopamine receptors. Who knows.
In the top of the 7th we managed to get a couple runs and tie the game, then got a couple more kids on base. Up steps our 8th grader, who has had a pretty solid season so far. She was the pitcher for Monday's win. She cracks off a line drive to the fence to score two more, and I believe she was runner-subbed and that girl scored. We went into bottom 7th with a 10-7 lead and managed to hold them off. Ended the game on a double play.
I don't know how they managed to pull that one out, but they showed some real grit. It's hard to have nail biter games back to back like that.
Afterward, they ran out for the customary on-field group picture. I was handed the phone to take it.
I pointed it their direction and said "on three, say 'infield fly rule!"
I crack myself up.
JV report...DD2 pitched three more great innings. Fanned several and only gave up a couple hits. There are a handful of games where our 8th grader will be pitching for the MS on the same day, so maybe DD2 will see some V innings backing up our #1 or if there's a rout going. She would love that.
So, as an additional note. As I started typing this up I got a call from the head umpire. I had messaged him earlier because I screwed up the middle school game time for this weekend. While I had him, I asked if he'd heard from anyone about Tuesday's wild HS game. He said neither coach had called him, but he'd been given the heads-up by someone else. I didn't recognize the name. He asked if I had been there and what my take on it was. My description was a little different than what he had been given. He did ask if the ball could have been reached easily by a good second baseman. I told him they would have had to be extremely fast and catch it over the shoulder, so...no. There was more to the discussion beyond that. It was nothing major but I'll keep that part to myself.
All in all, a pretty exciting past few games. We also saw that the team that beat us 10-0 last week gave up 16 runs last night to the team that we lost to by 1 run. At first I was kinda blown away by that, but I looked at the schedule and they had played the night before. I'm guessing they didnt pitch the same girl who blanked us. I'm an optimist though, so it gives me a bit more hope for our next time facing them later this season.
Also, the MS team won their first game. The kid I've been teaching to pitch struggled in the first inning, but after that she struck out 10 and if I recall correctly (because I was told last night and dont have that kind of memory), they won 17-5.
Anyway...back to Tuesday night's chaos.
At this point the HS is 3-2, having won our first district game and now playing our second. Let me reiterate, I (and others...maybe everyone) wasn't sure how this team would play. Three senior starters were replaced, and only one of the girls filling a spot has more than one season of experience playing ball. If I was laying money on it, I wouldn't have guaranteed any district wins and only maybe beating the perennial doormat types. I knew we would have experienced pitching, but I didn't think we'd hit the ball as well as we have so far.
The team we played Tuesday is generally a bottom 3-4 team in the region and last or next to last in the district. They beat us both games last season, but I believe both went the distance. Their pitcher from last season graduated, and their MS team has probably lost every game for at least the past five seasons. In-fact, that's the team our MS was beating Tuesday at home while we were at their HS field.
So the HS game started out pretty typical. A little contact, a hit here and there, etc. Cheerleader put a foul ball over the LF fence, then got out two pitches later on a fly ball right at the fence. We managed to get a run, I believe in the 2nd inning. Sometime in the 3rd, they have runners on 1st and 2nd and the girl hits one OTF. Everyone is going nuts (their fans get rowdy) and amidst the chaos, their batter runs right past the girl who was still leading off at 1st. She had delayed waiting to see if the ball was caught. They quickly realized what they had done and got back in the correct order. Out comes our HC to discuss it.
I know the lead runner is out if they get passed, but I'd never even considered the absurdity of this happening during an OTF homerun. I honestly didn't think it mattered. I looked it up, and apparently someone lost a grand slam back in the 70's because of it. Batter had a single, and the runner that was passed was out.
In our game, the umpire stuck to it. He had already been getting a lot of grief because of inconsistent pitch judgement. He's a pretty young guy as best I can tell, and his partner is a legit 83 years old. Not kidding. Based on previous interactions, I like the older guy and he's a decent ump, but he's clearly not jacked up on modafinil and supplemental testosterone like our commander in chief, so he's not exactly able to hit his spots for an optimal vantage point.
HC is fired up, but doesn't take it too far verbally. He does, however, smack a bucket on the way into the dugout. One bad call had taken the game from 1-0 good guys, to 4-1 bad guys. The older ump immediately shuffles over and lays into him. It was pretty impressive. Gotta respect the guy. Probably been doing it for over 50 years. He told me later that he also refs for basketball. I have no idea how that's possible but if he's 83 and umpiring then I can't put anything out of the realm of possibility.
Things settle a bit, but momentum has clearly swayed. The girls didn't make 8 errors as they had on Monday, but they had a few bloopers not go their way, etc.
As the game went on, more complaints about the plate ump occurred, and our opponent HC was ordered (by the older ump) to return to his dugout after trying to appeal one of our runners being called safe at 3B. He also at one point called attention to the fact that our pitcher wasn't pausing between stepping on the rubber and starting her windup. The plate ump addressed it and the opposing coach decided to announce that she had already done it 73 times.
So about a minute later, one of our parents walked over from behind the backstop to where I was on the other side of the dugout with his chair and said "ump just kicked me out so I'm gonna hide over here," I laughed, thinking it was a joke. About two minutes later a cop walks over and motions to him and tells him he's gotta go. Where that cop came from, I have no idea. This is the last dude you'd expect to get kicked out, too. He said all he did was yell to the ump not to let the opposing HC tell him what to do. He may have even been paying the price for something someone else said. It was really getting rowdy over there, but mostly from the opponent fans. Our crew really is pretty tame. Personally, I don't say much at all. Umps have a tough enough job as it is. This dude was bad, though.
As if it couldn't get any worse (and it always can), one of our girls takes a pitch to the leg. I think it was actually before one of the nicest guys around got booted. It also happened to be his daughter. The takes a pitch to her front leg on the shin. She's tough, and tosses the bat and heads to first base. Then...
"DEAD BALL. BATTER LIFTED HER LEG INTO THE PITCH. IT'S A BALL. RETURN TO THE PLATE."
I guess lifting a leg to load up for a swing without leaving the box is now a criminal offense.
More discussions. I heard our HC say "so lemme make sure on this. Lifting your foot to swing while getting hit is illegal? Ok. Just making sure."
That same girl was hit on the same leg in the next two at-bats. Last season she was the state leader in HBP. I'd say she's in the running for 2023 as well. She's also the one getting paid $20 per hit so she didn't far too well last night from a financial standpoint.
Let me also say, every time the opponent's 1B coach walked over, he was shaking his head and had this face that said "you guys are really getting hosed, but I'm not saying anything."
All this time, our catcher had taken so many foul tips to the thighs that she had to stop and let herself cry. It was hard to watch, but she got back to her usual savage self and got back in there.
So, to quote myself from earlier...."As if it couldn't get any worse (and it always can)"
It did...
Somewhere around the 6th inning, we're down two with two (edit..ONE out) outs and runners on 1st and 2nd. Our batter hits this nice little pop-up that I could immediately tell was gonna drop. CF, RF and 2B all converged about 15 feet into the grass about 3/4 of the way between 1st and 2nd, but none of them quite got there. Two runs score. At that point we either got the lead, or maybe tied it. I can't recall specifically.
Our parents are going nuts. Their people are finally silent, then our hero pipes up again...
INFIELD FLY RULE! BATTER IS OUT!
Everyone lost it. My wife was the first. She had literally asked me to explain IFR about 10 minutes earlier so she was armed with knowledge. Add this to the fact that she and I had initally (before I googled) disagreed over whether the homerun incident was an out (she was right), and she was jacked-up with enough rule-knowledge confidence to kill an elephant.
Pandemonium erupts on the opponent side. Plate ump's egregious calls had altered the game by 4 runs in their favor.
By this point, our girls were getting deflated, our coaches were spent, one or our parents was exiled a few hundred feet away, starving and thirsty for lack of access to the snack bar (or possibly just chillin in his car watching the game-changer broadcast). Even I was feeling it a bit. Monday night had been enough of a thriller already, so my softball adrenal glands were probably taking out loans from my dopamine receptors. Who knows.
In the top of the 7th we managed to get a couple runs and tie the game, then got a couple more kids on base. Up steps our 8th grader, who has had a pretty solid season so far. She was the pitcher for Monday's win. She cracks off a line drive to the fence to score two more, and I believe she was runner-subbed and that girl scored. We went into bottom 7th with a 10-7 lead and managed to hold them off. Ended the game on a double play.
I don't know how they managed to pull that one out, but they showed some real grit. It's hard to have nail biter games back to back like that.
Afterward, they ran out for the customary on-field group picture. I was handed the phone to take it.
I pointed it their direction and said "on three, say 'infield fly rule!"
I crack myself up.
JV report...DD2 pitched three more great innings. Fanned several and only gave up a couple hits. There are a handful of games where our 8th grader will be pitching for the MS on the same day, so maybe DD2 will see some V innings backing up our #1 or if there's a rout going. She would love that.
So, as an additional note. As I started typing this up I got a call from the head umpire. I had messaged him earlier because I screwed up the middle school game time for this weekend. While I had him, I asked if he'd heard from anyone about Tuesday's wild HS game. He said neither coach had called him, but he'd been given the heads-up by someone else. I didn't recognize the name. He asked if I had been there and what my take on it was. My description was a little different than what he had been given. He did ask if the ball could have been reached easily by a good second baseman. I told him they would have had to be extremely fast and catch it over the shoulder, so...no. There was more to the discussion beyond that. It was nothing major but I'll keep that part to myself.
All in all, a pretty exciting past few games. We also saw that the team that beat us 10-0 last week gave up 16 runs last night to the team that we lost to by 1 run. At first I was kinda blown away by that, but I looked at the schedule and they had played the night before. I'm guessing they didnt pitch the same girl who blanked us. I'm an optimist though, so it gives me a bit more hope for our next time facing them later this season.
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It's actually the passing runner who is out.
Did the coach not protest an infield fly called with 2 outs? I don't understand how he would let that just happen? Did the head umpire in your later discussion not question the call being made with 2 outs (vs whether it was catchable or not with ordinary effort by an infielder)?
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- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
I missed the 2 out part
(which is understandable since I haven’t read that many words without equations since HS 
)I actually was just hunting these incidents down on game changer. I broke down and paid the 12 bucks. I can see now on the scoreboard it was only one out, and the runner on 2b only advanced to 3b (there had been a runner on 3B who scored), so we only gave up 1 run on that play. We still lost 1 run, an out and a runner. And 4 runs on the night.
I try my best to post these accurately but the innings start to run together at times. The ball definitely dropped in the outfield but I would guess it's more like 10ft. If I can see it on my phone from a camera 20ft behind him (that wasnt recorded wide angle) then he should have seen it from 94-ish ft away.
Head ump and I didn't discuss the outs. I'm glad because I would have told him incorrectly. I did give him my disclaimer about the footage though because I know my vantage point wasn't perfect. I tried not to go too deep with him because I'm not the coach. Like I said, we did discuss a bit more otherwise but nothing I should share.
I know umpiring is a hard job, but it was like anything that could be done to hose us was being done.
I also looked at the homerun play. Batter got around her teammate by quite a bit before they reversed course.
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Forgot to address this. In hindsight, that makes more sense. This is why I'm not an ump, and why I don't typically say a word to umps or about the umps.
Gonna start tagging these posts as high school or middle school to avoid any confusion. Although DD2 is in HS now, I'm still directly involved with the MS team at this point so I'll keep sharing the progress.
High school report. Current record 4-4.
Had a lot of rain on Friday so our HS evening home game was cancelled. In an effort to salvage our Saturday away game, it was moved by the host team to an alternate site of a team with a turf infield that was about the same distance for us to drive. So both teams also played the third. We'll call them team 3. Going into these games, our record stood at 3-3.
Although Team 2 was our initially scheduled opponent, they played (and soundly defeated) Team 3 before we arrived, so we played Team 3 first. There were some unexpected positions assigned on our side, and our #1 pitcher got the nod. Statistically this was the weaker of the two teams we would face.
Overall, it went very well. The defense played almost perfectly. Only a few errors, some great, albeit unexpected defensive plays, and the pitcher hit her first homerun. She gave up three runs (2 earned) on 1H, 2BB and 10K's. Easily her best outing of the season. We won 13-3 in five innings. No JV game, obviously, so DD2 didn't see any action. She was asked to warm up to possibly get an inning if the score got way out of hand, but our bats cooled a bit so that didn't end up happening. Honestly I was glad because it was brutally windy (40mph gusts) and her speed is right at that tipping point where, if it's not full speed, it could get enough wind-driven movement to push the ball out of the zone. It was certainly happening some when I warmed her up.
Our second game, vs Team 2.
#2 pitcher got the start. Our core defensive setup was back to what it's been (for the most part) all season. Coming out of the gate our bats were hot and the girls put up 4 quick runs. Got another in the 2nd to put it at 5-1, but in the 3rd inning they had our pitcher figured out and went on a run, getting some line drives and fortuitous defensive errors on our part, managing to push the score to 6-5 in their favor.
One of our girls hit the first homerun of her life in the top of the 4th to make it 6-6. Bounced right off the top of the fence. She was all smiles and excitement. There's nothing like that first homerun ball. Mine is sitting in the curio cabinet 5 feet from me right now. I wouldn't let anyone wipe it off so it still has the scuff and smudge from the pine tree it hit past LF fence.
After we tied it up, the wheels completely fell off. Tons of hits, several defensive errors or slow play, and it finally ended at 17-7 after five innings. We were still making a lot of contact, but the theme of that game seemed to be shallow outfield popups. I don't know if it was their pitcher, the wind, fatigue, or just dumb luck, but I bet we hit a dozen in that game and they only missed a couple.
We've got a home date with Team 2 later this season. I don't think they're at all unbeatable and I expect I'll see pitcher #1 this time around. Give them something different to look at, at least.
High school report. Current record 4-4.
Had a lot of rain on Friday so our HS evening home game was cancelled. In an effort to salvage our Saturday away game, it was moved by the host team to an alternate site of a team with a turf infield that was about the same distance for us to drive. So both teams also played the third. We'll call them team 3. Going into these games, our record stood at 3-3.
Although Team 2 was our initially scheduled opponent, they played (and soundly defeated) Team 3 before we arrived, so we played Team 3 first. There were some unexpected positions assigned on our side, and our #1 pitcher got the nod. Statistically this was the weaker of the two teams we would face.
Overall, it went very well. The defense played almost perfectly. Only a few errors, some great, albeit unexpected defensive plays, and the pitcher hit her first homerun. She gave up three runs (2 earned) on 1H, 2BB and 10K's. Easily her best outing of the season. We won 13-3 in five innings. No JV game, obviously, so DD2 didn't see any action. She was asked to warm up to possibly get an inning if the score got way out of hand, but our bats cooled a bit so that didn't end up happening. Honestly I was glad because it was brutally windy (40mph gusts) and her speed is right at that tipping point where, if it's not full speed, it could get enough wind-driven movement to push the ball out of the zone. It was certainly happening some when I warmed her up.
Our second game, vs Team 2.
#2 pitcher got the start. Our core defensive setup was back to what it's been (for the most part) all season. Coming out of the gate our bats were hot and the girls put up 4 quick runs. Got another in the 2nd to put it at 5-1, but in the 3rd inning they had our pitcher figured out and went on a run, getting some line drives and fortuitous defensive errors on our part, managing to push the score to 6-5 in their favor.
One of our girls hit the first homerun of her life in the top of the 4th to make it 6-6. Bounced right off the top of the fence. She was all smiles and excitement. There's nothing like that first homerun ball. Mine is sitting in the curio cabinet 5 feet from me right now. I wouldn't let anyone wipe it off so it still has the scuff and smudge from the pine tree it hit past LF fence.
After we tied it up, the wheels completely fell off. Tons of hits, several defensive errors or slow play, and it finally ended at 17-7 after five innings. We were still making a lot of contact, but the theme of that game seemed to be shallow outfield popups. I don't know if it was their pitcher, the wind, fatigue, or just dumb luck, but I bet we hit a dozen in that game and they only missed a couple.
We've got a home date with Team 2 later this season. I don't think they're at all unbeatable and I expect I'll see pitcher #1 this time around. Give them something different to look at, at least.
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Like many???? really???
I only wish we had a decent restroom at our field.
We have to walk half a mile from the school to get to our field at the back end of our campus.
Color me jealous.
Oh. Nevermind then...lol. That must be a huge campus though. Our MS and HS have about half a block of residential between them. Baseball and football are on the HS property and Softball and Soccer are behind the MS.
Our facilities arent amazing. Pretty basic, but the home dugout has the storage and bathroom, and one of the parents built 20 wood lockers last year. We cleared 15 years worth of junk out of there to fit them, and I sorted out 8 complete sets of catcher's gear. Most of the teams around here have an addition on the home dugout though, and most of the fields have decent bathrooms. A few have porta-potties, which my wife refuses to use.
I've returned. Been very busy with games. We've played 6 in the past two weeks, including weekends and several days off for spring break. Not doing full reports, because I've probably forgotten the details and I'm long winded enough as it is. Some highlights though.
Several games back, against one of the best teams in the region, we were down pretty big in the top of the 6th and DD2 came over to get me to warm up for the JV game as usual. We hit the cage and she was throwing well, and in a good mood. We hadnt been at it very long and HC pops over and says "she ready to go?" and I had a confused look, then it sunk it. I said "Oh is she going in now??" DD2 yelled in excitement and just about knocked me over trying to get out of the cage. Finally some varsity throws.
I'm back to my seat and I see her waiting by the dugout door. He goes out and does a mound visit and I could hear her telling him she was gassed. Said nothing was moving and her arm hurt. So he calls out DD2 and she sprints out there with a smile. Not even nervous. She threw 12 pitches, gave up couple hits and one run as the defense finished the inning out. You couldn't have slapped the smile off her face as she came off the field. She got to bat in bottom 6th and struck out. The game ended in a 15 run mercy after 6 complete and she went on to pitch a good 5 inning JV game afterward.
Lost the following night in another 15 run slaughter to a team who we usually hang with. I'll chalk it up to weak hitting and both our normal starting pitchers having pitched the night before (#2 had been with the MS for a district game) and had only both been on 1 day of rest prior to then. 250 pitches each in 3 days was a lot. DD2 threw 120 or so between the varsity inning and two JV games. She hasn't had to throw more than 6 innings in a week for a long time and we haven't had time to do much outside of games. Her conditioning is non existent at this point.
Several games back, against one of the best teams in the region, we were down pretty big in the top of the 6th and DD2 came over to get me to warm up for the JV game as usual. We hit the cage and she was throwing well, and in a good mood. We hadnt been at it very long and HC pops over and says "she ready to go?" and I had a confused look, then it sunk it. I said "Oh is she going in now??" DD2 yelled in excitement and just about knocked me over trying to get out of the cage. Finally some varsity throws.
I'm back to my seat and I see her waiting by the dugout door. He goes out and does a mound visit and I could hear her telling him she was gassed. Said nothing was moving and her arm hurt. So he calls out DD2 and she sprints out there with a smile. Not even nervous. She threw 12 pitches, gave up couple hits and one run as the defense finished the inning out. You couldn't have slapped the smile off her face as she came off the field. She got to bat in bottom 6th and struck out. The game ended in a 15 run mercy after 6 complete and she went on to pitch a good 5 inning JV game afterward.
Lost the following night in another 15 run slaughter to a team who we usually hang with. I'll chalk it up to weak hitting and both our normal starting pitchers having pitched the night before (#2 had been with the MS for a district game) and had only both been on 1 day of rest prior to then. 250 pitches each in 3 days was a lot. DD2 threw 120 or so between the varsity inning and two JV games. She hasn't had to throw more than 6 innings in a week for a long time and we haven't had time to do much outside of games. Her conditioning is non existent at this point.
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