Our third game we played in Reading on Tuesday evening, but coach Watson could not be there. Weslee was a little off-balance since he had left his cleats, gloves and hat in Calvin's car from the game before. He was anxious without his equipment and we got to the field early.
Reading has a very nice field that is alongside the railroad track. Trains come by regularly blowing their whistles and making loud train noises as they come by. We remember playing there and that the seasoned umpire would leave the field every time players came off the field. He would go to the restroom for a couple of minutes. In the stands we would joke on whether he was having a drink or placing bets with his bookie. At one point we got a little anxious because the game was halted for such a long time in between innings last year.
I was heartened to hear that one of the coaches did read my blog so I decided that it was important for me to continue writing this blog even though sometimes I think I'm just writing it for myself and Weslee. The game started with Mitchell pitching. I looked into the outfield and the players were not the faces I expected to see. Weslee and Calvin were not in the field instead Brianna, Enoch and BJ were playing. Izaac and Pete were at first and third, and Zach was catching. It caught me off guard to see a shift in the regular players that I had been used to seeing especially that Weslee was on the bench.
Mitchell pitched very well the first couple of innings keeping the hits down and runs low. However, the other team pitched to us kept our hits down and our runs low. Several times we had the bases loaded but couldn't get any extra runs in. In the last inning the other team got one run ahead of us and won, 3 to 2.
I need to comment that we made a lot of errors, mostly in catching balls. I know that when I was learning how to play baseball we always covered the mitt after we got the ball and it doesn't seem like our players are doing that.
The other issue was the umpire. Several plays he called were very interesting. I believe Jake Blair was actually hit by a ball and the umpire refused to send him to first base, ended out that he got four balls and went to first base but the ump just refused to believe he had been hit by a ball. In another call which Weslee made at second he called a runner safe that sure looked like Weslee tagged him out.
It was a great play that Weslee made, but very split-second so a value judgment that each team would call in their favor.
It it is interesting to note that Weslee reminded me the same umpire had called a play against him last year . I believe Calvin was shortstop and Weslee second base and they actually had a double play. Pete was at first. Calvin had thrown the ball to Weslee, he tags the player at second; Weslee threw it to first and Pete got the player out at first. This same umpire called the runner safe at second , out at first.
"That is why we always have TWO umpires in tournament games," commented Weslee.
BJ also pitched a couple of innings. In the last inning Isaac pitched. As a dancer and dance teacher I have grown accustomed to observing body and head positioning. Although I know nothing about pitching I do know what pitching looks like and I can compare pitching positions. When I watch BJ pitch I can see that this focus and his head position is very different from the other pitchers and from a professional. He starts sideways to the batter but he's not looking over his shoulder focusing on the catchers mitt, but is looking at third base. He doesn't look at the catchers mitt until he turns so his head is not really focused or aiming toward the mitt until the split second that he starts to throw. I don't know if you really can pitch as accurately. Mitchell starts facing the catcher and is his focus from the moment he starts pitching. Isaac, on the other hand, starts sideways to the catcher, but he is looking over his left shoulder the whole time, so even when he's sideways to the catcher, he's looking at the catcher, focusing at where his pitch will go.
BJ has a little temper situation that helps him multi-task when a runner gets on base. He watched that runner carefully, and picked him right off the first. BJ had such a good play that it looked like he was a professional! BJ also caught a ball that came straight to him when one batter hit his pitch. Another thing that BJ does when he's on second base, he calls out the stats like he was the sports announcer, Howard Cosell. He'll tell everybody what out it is, whether it's a strike or ball, he repeats, "The plays on first!", which I think shows his tremendous spirit in the game.
We only had a couple of hits in the game. Big Country had two great hits, but they ended past the foul line. He did have one hit that was in play. The other team did a great job fielding. They did catch a lot of our balls that were up in the air, and they did make some good catches to hold us down to the two runs. I would like to comment about the batting of our team. I'm looking entirely at their body motion. If I look at the Red's, and I look at the body motion of the batters and I compare our players, our batters were not in rhythm at all. The kids are swinging with their arms only. Their feet and bodies are not in motion. Their hips are not in motion that if you look at a batter from the Cincinnati Reds the bat is swung down through the legs, even the feet twist. The hips are swung to give power to the bat and all our kids are waving the bat. They're not going to get body power behind that swing.
The best thing in the world is a hard fought win or loss to make players work harder. Coming early in the year I think it is good for our team to show them what they still need to work on. I also think it would be a good idea to train another pitcher in addition to BJ, because you just can't have enough good pitchers.
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