 Coach Kevin preparing Josiah for his turn behind the plate |
Josiah only did swimming and not soccer or T-ball the summer he turned seven. So, in second grade, he had no exposure to any organized baseball. There was a choice for his age group of Kennewick National Little League and City of Kennewick Parks boys’ softball, and we decided to have him try the latter. He already had a metal bat acquired on sale for the previous Christmas, but now had to get a glove and pair of baseball shoes. We didn't hear anything at first other than that Josiah was assigned to the "Magic" team and that the coach was responsible for contacting the team to arrange practices. Because the volunteer to coach had been on vacation when the team rosters were made, Gilbert was wondering whether he would have to try his hand at coaching kids for the first time. However, another parent (both mother and father) agreed to organize the Magic and scrambled to organize practice locations (sometimes interrupted by sprinklers) and times where many of the kids could attend. There were a few other kids like Josiah that couldn't catch a ball not directly in their hands and many that couldn't throw to a target smaller than an entire body, so games of catch were a bit of a challenge. Because the early evening is often the hottest part of the day, usually over 100F, Josiah also discovered that he likes Gatorade and its relatives. Hitting was also a bit of a challenge. Although Josiah had been hitting balls hung from string and off tees, he hadn't had to learn to time his swing to a thrown ball, or hit balls in different locations. At least he knew how to hold a bat and which direction to face his body, but usually crowded the plate until reminded to move away. And instead of getting a transition from metal to wood bat, he struggled with the transition from plastic to metal, because the aiming of the bat inevitably caused him to slow his swing and drop the bat head into a loop exacerabated by looking up at the lobbed pitch. So while he swung level at the tee, we kept admonishing "no digging" when he swung at a pitch. With the uppercut, he hit few grounders (which he probably could have beaten out even if they went back to the mound) but got a lot of air and a few fly balls. Winnie suggested he try hitting with glasses on, but it was more mechanics than eyesight, even using bats as light as 18 oz.
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 | Josiah doing what he did best, run the bases. This time there wasn't a gauntlet of infielders and outfielders making baserunners look like a halfback trying to break through the line |
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The team as a whole was fairly average, and coaches Kevin and Tina would not divulge the scores to the kids to rein in their competitive nature. There were also two rules to level the field: a five-run limit per inning, and a sort of gentlemen's agreement among coaches not to advance runners, so the runner at first would stay at second even if the infielder threw the ball out of play trying to get the batter. Only if the ball were hit to the outfield and not touched would the batter and runners keep moving. Some games were like the NBA All-Stars; whoever fails to score once loses. A few others had multiple innings with no score or only a few runs. Most coaches also rotated all their players around the field, so if Josiah or another weak fielder was at first, the best chance for an out was a caught fly or an unassisted putout at second. There should have been more pitcher-to-catcher putouts with the bases loaded, but many of the kids would stay crouched behind the plate with their armor on when a grounder was hit to the mound. A key game was on a slightly-rainy evening when only six Magic made it to the game. Gilbert urged the parents and kids to just take the field and they all started chasing the ball rather than expect someone else to pick it up (the outfielders usually being on the infield dirt) and kept the other team's scoring low. And without the long waits between hitting, they kept putting up fives every inning and probably had their easiest victory. Later in the year, Josiah finally popped one to the edge of the infield and also caught a fly ball and got it to second base for a double play. They threw it to first for what should have been the team's second triple play of the year but somehow the runner was not declared out. There were only a couple of Hispanic kids on this team and fewer in the league than would be expected looking at the schools (many of the signs at Josiah's school are bilingual). The Magic probably had a bit more parent participation than average, but certainly no better playing skills. The most encouraging thing was that they were doing better relative to the other teams at the end compared to the beginning of the season. If you want to know their W-L record... you would have to ask the coaches. |