GrillSgt's Firepit

Softball: Game 1

Game 1 against Silverchair was a thorough and total slaughter. We lost 47-2. I started the game on the bench. We were the home team. Silverchair scored 11 runs in the top of the first. We didn’t score in our half. Silverchair added 6 more in the top of the second. We finally got on the board in the second with 2 runs. Ian tripled to left center. Ashley singled. Matt then tripled to right, but was thrown out at the plate trying to stretch it into an inside the park home run. The coach put in the subs in the top of the third. I took over at first base. Made a couple of put outs. Should have had an assist too, but our second baseman missed my easy, on target throw that would have gotten a force out at second. Silverchair ended up scoring 30 runs in the top of the third. In the bottom of the third I got on base because of an error by the second baseman with two outs, but our next batter made an out and that ended the game. So I ended up 0-1.

There was a lot to learn from this drubbing. Hopefully the coach did. The more obvious stuff was…

• It’s not a good idea to play a lady at shortstop unless she can make all the throws, especially that long one to first base.
• A shortstop needs to be one of the best players on the field because of the range and throws required of the position. This person should also be very baseball savvy as the shortstop is often the quarterback of the defense, helping to position players and making sure everyone knows the situation.
• This team needs a lot more practice. Shortstop and second base forgot to go out as cutoff when balls were hit to the outfield. People didn’t know where to go with the ball when it was hit to them. Lots of basic fundamentals are lacking, especially catchng the ball.
• People didn’t listen to positioning instructions.
• People need to watch the basepaths in front of them and not run up the back of the runner in front of them. Not only does this create the possiblity of an out if the slower player is passed, but it makes it extremely difficult to for the base coach to stop a runner if needed.

Hopefully we’ll have some more practices and this slaughter isn’t indicative of the season. Stay tuned.

Promoted!

Softball Season Starts

Spring has arrived in Central Virginia. Well sort of… it can still be a little chilly some days. The company where I work put together a co-ed softball team, which I decided to join. The team is in one of the Co-ed Rookie Leagues. It’s going to be a blast! I’m not coaching, and since I can pretty much play any position, I have no idea where the coach is going to play me. He mentioned catcher on occasion, which is ok I guess, but I hope it’s not every game. After Saturday’s practice, I think it would be a waste of my abilities and experience to put me there all the time. There are a few good players, but not as many as I had on the Las Vegas Corporate Challenge team last year. I don’t expect us to challenge for the league championship, but you never know.

Keep watching the GrillSgt’s Firepit to see how the team, Lucky 7s, is doing. Our games are on Thursday nights. I’ll post each games result as well as how I did. The game schedule will be posted in the Events Calendar in the right sidebar.