Those of you on Facebook have read a few statuses of mine about softball

[ReVOLver]

But I wanted to share the full story here, where I can type it all out and not offend anybody in my town. I'm going to be a little long winded but it's a fun story.

Like most small town youth baseball / softball rec leagues, ours has some politics that you have to deal with. There is one coach in particular that coaches to feed his competitive fire more than he does it to coach his daughter. He's a very nice guy, but he is a win at all costs type of coach. My oldest daughter actually played for him two years ago in 9-10 year old ball, and she had a blast because they won... but even then, I knew he was a rule bender to put it mildly. At the time when Kristin played for him he was the president of softball and he would obviously change rules to benefit his team... he used "league option" type of rules on coach pitch and replacing players to have enough to play to his advantage, plus, he would make gentlemen's agreements with the parents of good players to stack his team. He would never actually cheat during a game, but you'd better believe he is going to do whatever he can off the field to put his team in the best position to win.

Last year he moved up to 11-12 while Kristin stayed down. When he moved up he was able to keep the three best players on his existing team and grab the four best players that were moving up. Then, he dominated a 2 team league with those players. Four of those girls who played as 11 year olds last year slid just under the cutoff line with January birthdays, so they were playing as 11 year olds when they were actually 12. All 7 of those girls returned, including the four now 13 year olds.

This year, the dad of the best pitcher in our entire city regardless of age got tired of the politics he had to deal with as a parent and the politics of playing travel ball so he decided to coach his daughter for the first time. This guy is not what I'd call a popular guy in town, but his daughter is a really good pitcher and a solid overall ballplayer. He came in as the third team in a three team league where both of the other teams were returning to the age group, so he was left with the entire pool of 11 year olds to choose from. He ended up with a bunch of girls he knew little about and that had never played together before, but he felt pretty good because his daughter is a great pitcher and he drafted another good pitcher. But before the season started, the mother of the other really good pitcher (who also happens to be a former college softball player and the lady who taught my daughter and the head coaches daughter to pitch) went to the board and complained because she knew that her kid was not going to get to pitch a lot... the board caved and forced a player trade to the third team, claiming that we had an unfair pitching advantage (never mind that the other team had three GREAT pitchers returning) . We ended up getting a really good player who already had a sister on our team, but the catch was she was in middle school ball and couldn't play the first half of the season. Our coach didn't argue, he just decided to make the best of it and have fun with what he had. At the first practice he asked me if I would mind helping him coach. There weren't a whole lot of other options, to be honest.

In practice, I thought we had some potential to scare some people, but I was thinking forward to next year when we'd return everybody. We had a couple of scrimmages with the other two teams and while we didn't keep score, we got rocked in every scrimmage. The "best" team had two pitchers who might as well have been Monica Abbott to our girls... they were big and strong and threw hard and changed speeds. Also they were both 13, and you can imagine how intimidating that might be to an 11 year old girl. The head coach and I talked about just hanging in the first half of the season until we could get the middle schooler on the roster... she would be our only 12 year old and she was a really good ballplayer... maybe we could contend in the 2nd half. The one thing we thought we had going for us was our one pitcher and that 7 of our 10 girls had good to great speed. We agreed that we were going to run, and run a lot.

We started the year with a preseason single elimination tournament. With three teams, we had a coin flip and we won the bye to the final. Of course we ended up playing the best team in their 2nd game. Those other girls took the field with a lot of attitude and undoubtedly expected to roll. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation... their pitcher was a little wild... she walked two in the first inning, we stole two bases, eeked out a little grounder in the deep hole at short, and then our first base planted one off the wall in the left center field gap and all of a sudden we were up 3-0. I was shocked to be honest. Then, our pitcher took over and was completely zoned in. It was like a video game... fastball, fastball, changeup, sit down. We won that game 7-1. We didn't play great, but our pitcher was superb and you could see the girls' confidence just explode.

We've played that team four times so far in games when it counted. We won by 1 run twice and they won a close one once. The fourth game was last Saturday in the 100 degree heat and we run ruled them 13-5. The third team has offered little competition. Today we sit at 13-1, 7-1 in the league, with two games left to play tomorrow night... one against each league team. If we win either, we win the league outright. If we lose both, we still should win the league outright in my opinion because we would own head to head, but the political wheels are already turning for a best 2 out of 3 playoff if we end up tied. Luckily our girls have no intention of losing either.

The girls have no idea of the politics that they have in effect defeated. They are just out there having fun. From a parent/coaching perspective, what excites me is that they still have joy... the older girls on the other team have no joy. All they hear is yelling from their coaches and parents who are used to them winning and not knowing how to deal with it. Their coaches are frustrated because we beat them often without hitting the ball out of the infield... we beat out ground balls, we steal, we slide, we are aggressive and we go after people and those girls eat it up. We play defense and catch the ball and do the little things well.

It excites me that we are getting better. We had a game early on against the third place team where we could've scored 20 runs if we hadn't gotten thrown out on the bases five times due to girls not sliding. Last night we scored about 6 runs between two games where girls were safe because they slid. We looked up at one point and 9 of the 11 girls had dirty uniforms. I can't even explain how gratifying that was. Also in one of the first practices I had to take the first base over to the side to do soft toss because she wasn't hitting anything. Yesterday she hit a ball almost 200 feet, over the left field wall.

Oh, and the pitcher that is so great? She's actually 10 years old, playing up a level. I guess what I've been reminded of this year is that kids are still kids and they are still pure at heart and they are still capable of coming together and creating something where the sum is greater than the parts. I'd be hard pressed to find a more rewarding two months that I've spent in my adult life.

[101stDad]

I coached both rec baseball and then competitive travel beginning when my son was 12.  The most fun I ever had were the years that we ended up being much better, and winning tourneys and championships, in the years when we really weren't expected to.   I know what the Bible says about pride, but I was really proud of our guys putting it to coaches and players like you described during several of those seasons. 

As 16 year olds, our guys won a tourney at East Cobb, beating the East Cobb Astros (one of the best amateur baseball programs in the country with players from all over the southeast and beyond) along the way on their home field. We weren't even supposed to be able to play with the teams there - we were a late addition to the tourney due to a team dropping out - but our kids didn't believe that.  Those wins are the sweetest.

Enjoy the ride.  You don't know if and when you will have another one like it.   

[ReVOLver]

I coached both rec baseball and then competitive travel beginning when my son was 12.  The most fun I ever had were the years that we ended up being much better, and winning tourneys and championships, in the years when we really weren't expected to.   I know what the Bible says about pride, but I was really proud of our guys putting it to coaches and players like you described during several of those seasons. 

As 16 year olds, our guys won a tourney at East Cobb, beating the East Cobb Astros (one of the best amateur baseball programs in the country with players from all over the southeast and beyond) along the way on their home field. We weren't even supposed to be able to play with the teams there - we were a late addition to the tourney due to a team dropping out - but our kids didn't believe that.  Those wins are the sweetest.

Enjoy the ride.  You don't know if and when you will have another one like it.   

That last sentence is especially true for me. Both of my daughters are marginal players. I actually didn't even expect Kristin to play this year. She is in the band and the drama club and won the literature award and is starting to trend towards the arts. Belle is a free spirit who is good at math and only plays because she thinks it's what I want her to do (even though I have told her before she should only play if she wants to play.) Neither one of my kids is going to play all stars this year, or ever play travel ball. I could probably turn Belle into a pretty good ballplayer if she was willing to get out with me and work, but she'd rather not and I'm not going to force her... if her sister ever stops playing, she will probably stop playing. So, this ride with these girls on Kristin's team this year is probably the only one I'll ever have, which is what makes it special to me.

Glad to see you on here, BTW.

[RockinGrannyVol]

Im glad you are having fun and so are the girls...that is the most important thing for them.....have fun!   I always hated the politics of recreational sports when my son played.   My granddaughter plays travel ball and loves it!  But it is very time consuming for them.   She's hoping for a college scholarship in SB.   Love to see you daddies involved..that too, is so important!  My son coaches his daughter and she loves him being involved with her!

[ReVOLver]

Im glad you are having fun and so are the girls...that is the most important thing for them.....have fun!   I always hated the politics of recreational sports when my son played.   My granddaughter plays travel ball and loves it!  But it is very time consuming for them.   She's hoping for a college scholarship in SB.   Love to see you daddies involved..that too, is so important!  My son coaches his daughter and she loves him being involved with her!

Travel ball is soooo time consuming. My oldest daughter asked me about it two years ago because she wanted to get better. I told her that you have to work on your own to get better in order to be good enough to play travel, and that was the end of that. 

[RockinGrannyVol]

They made the ASA world series last year as a 12 and under team...not sure if they'll make it this year, they are a first year 14 and under team.  Well see!

[Volcreed]

great story!!! thanks for sharing!!!

[Quasi EVol]

What an great example of kids playing for all the right reasons - And you also got 101st Dad to post again! 

[EmerilVOL]

In the words of Sheldon Cooper..... BAZINGA on those other coaches.....

I coached many years ago in Baseball down in Georgia and coached Basketball at Upward.  While coaching Upward I met some very good coaches and one that I would call a "overly competitive coach"  Upward is sponsored by the local church organizations (usually a Baptist coach) and is suppossed to teach teamwork and biblical truths.....well we were coaching 3rd and 4th graders and this one coach had his son on his team and his son was a good player....well he worked his team so that his son was in 5 out of every 6 periods and the team won quite a bit.  We had some good players and some very quick players....and we played by the rules to make sure every kid got at least two periods a half of play.  The last game of the season was agaisnt this coach and his team.  We played good defense and I switched up and played a taller kid on his "superstar" son the whole game.  We ended up beating them with a last second shot that pissed off their coach and made him absolutely red in the fae.  He thought he would win the league cause he had killed us by 16 points the first game.  I reviewed video we had made of every game and noticed his team did not play center of the lane defense and I made them pay by sending our point guard driving down the middle....our point guards scored 58% of our points that day!

[GeneVols]

It has been truly amazing to see what the team of girls have done... hats off to Coach Phillip and you, you guys have earned the girls' trust and they are rewarding yall with playing hard every single time they hit the field... I can't wait til tonight for them to finish up and win outright, so no politics are involved.

It has been nice to see how EVERY girl on the roster has improved since day 1.

GO SOUTHERN STORM!!!

[ReVOLver]

It has been truly amazing to see what the team of girls have done... hats off to Coach Phillip and you, you guys have earned the girls' trust and they are rewarding yall with playing hard every single time they hit the field... I can't wait til tonight for them to finish up and win outright, so no politics are involved.

It has been nice to see how EVERY girl on the roster has improved since day 1.

GO SOUTHERN STORM!!!

I am stoked... watching the clock, waiting for 4 so I can leave. I guarantee you I have thought about this game far more than any of the girls have! 

[ReVOLver]

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Stogie Vol]

Congrats!!

[EmerilVOL]

Wooohooo Way to go Pistol.......

[101stDad]

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

That's a pic to be framed and hung on the wall.   

[ReVOLver]

Our third base girl, who hasn't hit a fly ball out of the infield all year, took the other team's best pitcher deep last night... 200+ feet over the left field fence. This girl is 11 years old and just finished the 5th grade... the opposing pitcher is 13 and just finished 7th grade. And it was a thing of beauty.

In the 3rd inning when we were up 4-1 things started to get a little hairy... with no outs the opposing pitcher tripled and then the next batter doubled into the gap in left... our left fielder chased the ball down and threw a seed to 2nd base... behind the runner... which we tell them to never do... the runner overran 2nd base and got tagged out. Threat killed with only one run scored. That's the kind of team we had. They made every play like that all year. We had at least 5 bang-bang double plays that I remember to kill big threats.

[101stDad]

Our third base girl, who hasn't hit a fly ball out of the infield all year, took the other team's best pitcher deep last night... 200+ feet over the left field fence. This girl is 11 years old and just finished the 5th grade... the opposing pitcher is 13 and just finished 7th grade. And it was a thing of beauty.

In the 3rd inning when we were up 4-1 things started to get a little hairy... with no outs the opposing pitcher tripled and then the next batter doubled into the gap in left... our left fielder chased the ball down and threw a seed to 2nd base... behind the runner... which we tell them to never do... the runner overran 2nd base and got tagged out. Threat killed with only one run scored. That's the kind of team we had. They made every play like that all year. We had at least 5 bang-bang double plays that I remember to kill big threats.

To win a championship at any level in any sport not only takes talent and execution, but it takes a few breaks along the way, too.  The runner over running second and being tagged out is a perfect example of that.  

Some things are just meant to be.  Sounds like your team winning the championship is one of those things. 

[ReVOLver]

To win a championship at any level in any sport not only takes talent and execution, but it takes a few breaks along the way, too.  The runner over running second and being tagged out is a perfect example of that.  

Some things are just meant to be.  Sounds like your team winning the championship is one of those things. 

Talent, execution, breaks... and chemistry. I think teams with chemistry make their own breaks.

[101stDad]

I think teams with chemistry make their own breaks.

Agreed.  It's all about being in a position to take advantage of the breaks when they happen.