Last night was the first DRY softball practice in weeks. The girls have either been in the rain or under shelter on the school grounds, making the best of such limiting circumstances. But our recent string of cloudy, cool, yet DRY (shouted almost like a “hallelujah” here in Oregon!) weather made for a pretty good practice last night.
That is, once I set one little girl straight.
Our assistant coach has a daughter on the team. A daughter that is, well, not so serious about the game. Or about lending spirit to the team. Or about trying to cooperate in any reasonable manner. I understand that these are 9 and 10 year olds, but please. Muster just a seed of discipline, eh?
So we get to the practice, and this girl shouts out to one of my daughters: “Hey, I want to play catch with YOU!,” to which my daughter politely says “Ok!”. And while the other girls are warming up with sincerely-aimed throws and earnestly-sought-after catches, my daughter is playing with the girl who purposely (and with a maniacal laugh) keeps throwing the ball in exactly the opposite direction as my daughter. So my daughter runs this way and that way, showing what I can see is a little frustration, but still being entirely polite to this girl. Over and over the girl acts like this, and I am squirming in my brown camp chair. Her mother is not paying attention, no one is really. But mama bear’s got her eyes all over the situation.
I couldn’t take it anymore and walked right up to the girl. “Listen, my daughter needs to practice, just like everyone else. If you’re gonna ask her to play, then quit throwing the balls all over the place. It’s one thing to try and maybe not get it, it’s another thing to make her run all over creation. Just quit it, ok?” I turn around, and suddenly EVERYone is paying attention. For just a second I felt like a witch, and then I realized that I didn’t care. My family makes time for these practices – we usually all come, just to support our girls and be involved. Some nights – like last night – it’s not easy. We’ve got huge school projects due, we’re running between different activities for different kids. It’s not like I’m totally psycho about competitive sports, but just don’t waste my time, alright?
Once we got that little episode out of the way, things were alright. I love to watch my older daughter at bat. She’s so powerful, and you can just see how badly she wants it. She is pure concentration in that box. She also got some time pitching last night, and I was surprised to see that she isn’t half bad! It’s not something she has expressed much interest in, but she’s fairly consistent. I’d like to see the coach try her in a game or two. Our younger daughter is still a bit of a goof, but she’s also fun to watch. Just because you can see she’s so light-hearted about it, and excited at every tiny success. Her batting is coming along, and she still has work to do with her throwing. We only have one more practice left, though, so she’s going to have to do some “on the field training.”
After practice, we stayed for about 30 minutes to get in some batting time with the girls. At one point my husband and daughter were retrieving the balls from the outfield, and I jokingly grabbed the bat and struck a pose at the plate. When everyone turned around, they giggled, but my husband just smiled and raised an eyebrow in a “you feelin’ lucky, momma?” gesture. I swirled my bat and shook my hiney in a “bring it on” move. He pitched me several balls, and to my utter astonishment and joy, I smacked every one of those stinkers into the outfield! Right between 2nd and 3rd seems to be my sweet spot. It was so much fun!! I haven’t hit a softball in eons, and I never remembered how totally satisfying it is to launch those puppies out there. Now, I can only imagine how funny it looked to those driving by to see a grown man pitching to a pregnant woman, with three tiny outfielders cheering on. May not be Norman Rockwell, but it was still a moment worth remembering!
Filed under: Softball
