So the two games got the real fields and we were relegated to some outfield grass. This required some creative coaching. We just played catch for 10 minutes while I grasped for inspiration. Then I had an idea. Then, Ben and I discussed the merits of him crossing the street unsupervised to run home and grab a recycling bin. He conviced me he could, safely.

What I had in mind was something I remembered from the Tom Emanski’s Defensive Drills Video TV commercial. It showed a bunch of little leaguers making perfect throws from the outfield in to a trash can at home plate.

• ESPN on Tom Emanski
• Wikipedia on Tom Emanski

We had no backstop, so what we did is spread out in the mock field, and I threw 8 balls out at a time and had everyone throw at the blue recycling bin. I placed it up the third baseline so errant throws weren’t beaning the parents. One of the dad’s helped chase the throws that went pretty much everywhere except the bin. This was to be expected. None of these kids has ever seen or even heard of  Tom Emanski’s Defensive Drills Video!

After about 15 minutes of this we took a water break, and I set up 6 stations about 40 feet apart like the dots of a #6 domino. I counted off numbers to the kids 1–6 and had them line up at each station. Keeping with the domino metaphor, imagine a blue recycling bin on the single dot. Now imagine this domino is Paul Bunyan size! We had two groups and I’d throw two balls to the far fielders to start the relay.

From this setup we practice relaying the ball in from the outfield to the blue bin. As they started to get it, I talked to them about lining up between the blue bin and the person throwing the ball, and eventually letting the throw go past you when it was strong enough to make it to the next person in the relay. After a while we started keeping score of which group would get the ball in the fastest. Then we added a bonus half point for hitting the bin. It got quite competitive and the kids had a lot of fun. We rotated stations so everyone got in on each part of the relay.

After a second water break, we mixed the teams up and played again until the hour was up.

Then I called them in to distribute the handout and made sure they knew we had a road game Tuesday and where it was. Most of them stayed around another 5 minutes while I went through the “How to play whiffle ball” instructions in this weeks handout.

Then Ben and I played a game of whiffle ball for most of an hour. He beat me 11–10.

Practice #5

We didn’t have our game on Tuesday, and we had a real field so we played two innings of an intra-squad scrimmage.

Practice #4

We had a small patch of grass between a big girls’ softball game and a T-ball practice. We worked on baserunning and fielding in some tiny baseball, then took some BP.

• Another game cancelled
• How to play whiffle ball!

We now officially have 19 players—that’s outrageous, and only one didn’t show up  last night. Imagine 18 fielders (without a catcher). We had at least 2 players at every position.

By the numbers

We scored 6 runs on 11 hits with 3 walks. That’s a .733 team batting average! We had 2 fly outs and 2 thrown out at first. All the hits were singles except Maria’s double to end the game (she’s signed up and officially on the team).

In the field we made a lot of nice plays (I didn’t score for the other team), including a double play. The double play was a fly out to our left fielder (well, one of our left fielders) Caleb who threw it to Ben covering second to double off the runner. I was very impressed. Unfortunately in the bottom of the inning, they got a triple play similarly. It was the first game and we haven’t covered base running and tagging up, so we let the kids stay on the bases once they went back.

Thursday we’ll split the team up at practice and work on running the bases in some tiny baseball [see glossary].

We got the league rules tonight. There aren’t many.

I find it very hard to pitch at about half speed to small people. Every time I threw behind a kid though, he’d actually hit it. My best pitching of the night was to Noah and he’s one of the smaller ones. I blame tonight’s pitching on a combination of a dry contact lens, low blood sugar, and never having a good arm.

Maybe I shouldn’t have clicked this link!

I accelerated our hitting training after finding out we have our first game in one week. I still don’t have the rules yet, but I assume we’ll go with the tee ball-like approach of every hit is a single; bat through the order; get the ball in to first on each play.

Everybody made it except Harrison, Maria, and Keenan. Michaela disappeared after the first ten minutes though.

My pitching is as bad as ever. I think I hit every kid with a whiffle ball during the first round of batting practice, but I only hit two kids with the real balls during the second round. The balls are soft, and I wasn’t throwing hard. Actually, if I was throwing harder, I wouldn’t hit anybody.

We have a few crazy swings to straighten out. We need to get Courtney’s hair out of her eyes, and we need about half the kids to get angry and swing harder.

We added a sixteenth player, Tatum. She’s the other coach’s daughter. That’s a lot of kids. We’ll be better off if a handful miss each time.

We can claim at least one success though. Everyone knows which way to run to first now!

The Coach

I’m remembering all those names without ever having seen a roster. Reports of someone grumbling about not getting to run the bases. Tiny baseball is a bit more chaotic with 14. 12 would be ideal. Ben was TOO helpful tonight. So was Isaac—must keep an eye on those two. Most likely our best hitters will be DeAundre, Ben, Rossiti, Eva, Harrison, and Keenan. All except DeAundre will need a lot of practice. DeAundre is the kid who in flag football last year, after the coach spent forever in the huddle detailing the play, lined up at wide receiver and turned to the sideline and said “Dad, the ball is coming to me this play!” The entire West Minnehaha defense then shifted to cover him. Would have been a good time for the QB to call an option.

For tonight’s practice I broke out my k/a Japanese baseball jersey from 1991 Duluth Ragstock that has NEVER fit.