June 6, 2019: The Ringer

Back to practice on Thursday. This will be currently our last scheduled practice until July 11. After this one, we’ll have games every Thursday and Saturday until getting the week of the 4th off. Going to try to hook up another practice day, but for now, this would be it.

It was the day for hitting. We had three stations going: hitting the hit stick, hitting soft toss, and hitting off the mound. Each kid hit at each station. Trying to get as many swings in as possible, building up that muscle memory. Now if I can only hit their bat when I’m pitching next time out.

Earlier in the week, I was sent a text about a new kid on our team. The last kid added never showed up; somebody finally responded to me that he would not be attending; we were set at 11…until today. Our new kid showed up for his first practice in a Cubs jersey; I already liked him. He was huge… I asked him how old he was. He said he just turned 10. Yes, it is a 7-9 league, but if you were 9 at the start of the league, you were good to play; he fell in that category. From one of the youngest kids in the league, to one of the oldest, we had it covered, plus…it looks like we finally caught a break. The kid can play. He was fielding, throwing, hitting…he said he could do everything but pitch; that was his weakness. I said ok…haha. Yeah, already trying to figure out a way to get the ringer a few extra at bats per game. Maybe change his jersey between plate appearances? He’s only one kid though. Still, he’ll definitely make us better. If he can come up to bat in some run scoring opportunities…we could be in business.

Back to one of the youngest kids in the league. My son was hitting in practice, but it seemed pretty apparent that his bat is too heavy for him. In the process of trying to convince him to use another bat during the game. Definitely think it will help. The first time I thought this was when some of his cousins felt his bat, and said it was heavy; they’re older than him. Then he goes 0-2. He is hitting in practice, and I’m sure he could hit with it, but he seems to be laboring. But it’s his new bat!!! Told him you could practice with it, but maybe use another lighter bat for the game. I’ll keep you posted.

This Saturday should be a game, but instead is a coach’s meeting. So it’s going to be the 2nd week of June and we only have 1 game in the books? That don’t seem right. It will be fast and furious after that, so we’ll catch up. Hope our team can catch up too. Looking forward to game 2. Go A’s!