Well, we won....

Not exactly the most stellar of baseball games played. But that's what you get with no practice. And it looks like another week of no practice ahead, as Sunday Easter, Tuesday concert, Wednesday is church night for most, Thursday and Friday trackmeets. So next Saturday, we will do what we can do. If the boys have a chance, which I am guessing not, have them throw, or do some tee work, or something.

As for today...a lot of errors. Most physical, which I can live with, they make you groan, but so be it. I'm a little more bothered by mental, which we had a couple, not knowing the outs, not knowing the game situation on the bases, and stuff like that.

I made my own glaring mental mistake. I had just told Will, who was on 3rd base to go home on a grounder, unless it was hit to 3rd base or the pitcher. There was a dribbler to third, and I told him to go, and he got thrown out at the plate. My bad, in my excitement.

But we did plenty of good stuff. I saw better base running by our runners. I've told the guys not to play T-ball---when going from 1st to 2nd on a ball hit to the outfield, or an a grounder when they aren't playing on you, to round 2nd, and look to 3rd--don't just stop on 2nd base. I know Drew and Jerald each advanced an extra base for us in that situation.

I would say Zach and CJ were our defensive stars. Zach played a nice centerfield for us, with a catch, and backing stuff up-doing the little things. CJ pitched really well for us. They hit the ball, but when we field it, like we did in the last inning, things go well for us.

CJ and Sam also met my combined goal of 1 walk per inning or less. Sam got into some trouble in the first, walking the first 3 guys. That is not good. Then with some errors sprinkled in, we got into more trouble. But he settled in, and then CJ closed very consistent for us. My favorite out is when he picked the guy off at first. I haven't had time to work on a sign to throw to first. So I discretely held up my index finger, and over exaggerated a whisper "THROW IT TO FIRST" Good job by CJ to get him. He almost had a couple others as well at first and 3rd.

I really liked that we closed strong. Sam threw a guy out from 3rd, from his knees. That is awesome. Then Will got us an out from shortstop, and then CJ struck a guy out to end the game.

On the bats, Sam had a very long strike. He hit that bomb that unfortuately went foul. Sam did manage 2 hits on the night. Everybody got on base at least once, one way or another. And no one struck out more than once, which is an improvement over last game. We only struck out 4 times total, so that is good.

We also got walked a lot. I guess I'll take it, but I like to see the guys hitting the ball too. Walk fests are kinda boring to watch but that is no fault of our batters. Austin got on with walks all 3 of his at bats.

Considering our lack of practice, I'm pretty happy with our batting the first 2 games. As I tell the guys, this is a hitters league. In 32 plate appearances, we put the ball in play 18 times, walked 11 times, and struck out 4 times. They had 28 plate appearances, put the ball in play 14 times, walked 5 times, and struck out 9 times.

So again, no practice this week. Thanks to our concessionaires and pitch counter and book keeper. C'mon sun!