First Day of Little League
It’s opening day for Little League today. I know this because I saw it on the news this morning. Can I tell you how cute these 4 – 6 year old kids looked? Little munchkins with over sized helmets – they looked like bobble head dolls. Holding a bat that’s nearly as big as they are, taking a mighty swing at the tee ball and to their surprise hits the ball! There’s a moment of indecision…
Finally, the coach shouts RUN!
And the little bobble head doll scurries down to first base as fast as his little legs will carry him, head bobbling all the way.
Meanwhile, all hells broke loose in the infield. Kids scampering every which way, until one of ‘em figures out how to catch the ball, (their mitts are about the size of their heads) unfortunately in the melee the first basemen’s been drawn off the bag and the kid who picked up the ball, throws it to thin air.
The kid makes it to first and decides to take two. The first basemen manages to run back and get the ball, the coach is shouting THROW IT SECOND! He throws it over the second basemen’s head and the ball ends up in left field. The left fielder wasn’t expecting that, as a matter of fact he was looking the other way. After a few seconds and shouts from the coach, he goes scampering after the ball. Meanwhile, our intrepid batter decides to make it a triple.
Obviously, the kids have yet to fully appreciate the mechanics of the game. It’s like watching puppies play baseball.
The left fielder manages to catch up to the ball and throws it back to the second baseman who ducks when the ball gets to him. Fortunately, the pitcher (why there’s a pitcher in Tee ball I’ll never know) who’s mind is in the game and manages to scoop up the ball.
The third base coach is giving the “round house” signal to the runner to go for home. So the little tyke rounds third and barrels towards home. The pitcher turns and throws the ball home…
The throw is good.
It hits the catchers’ oversized mitt, but he doesn’t have the strength in his little hands to close the glove and the ball drops to the ground.
Our intrepid bobble head doll makes it across home plate for an in the park home run!!!
I wonder if A-Rod started out this way.
3 comments:
You should see puppies play soccer!
I'm sure it's even more so in Pop Warner Football.
Mikey's first game was yesterday and he and Shane came down last night. The game went well but halfway through the opening-day excitement started to get to Mikey's team and they fell behind, which only made them more rattled. Before Mikey went in to pitch the last inning, Shane gave him a little pep-talk. Settle down, focus on each pitch, take deep breaths and don't hurry . . . Mikey nodded his head and said, "Okay, I can do it. I'm going to win this for Jessie." He marched up to the mound and walked the first batter, then struck the next three out. Even then he didn't lose focus and waited for his turn at bat. A couple of his teammates scored runs, and then came his turn and he jacked it. Home Run. Game over. Heart melted.
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