Weekend split

Our schedule being what it is, there are some quick turnarounds in the schedule. Too quick, in my opinion, for 9- and 10-year-olds.

We played the Astros Friday at 6:30, in a game that extended until nearly 8:30. The game was tense and close the entire way, and had we gotten to the time limit one inning sooner, we would have won the game 6-5. But the 5th inning got played and the Astros scored twice in the bottom of the inning to win 7-6.

It was a tough break for our pitcher. He's playing organized baseball for the firt time and he was making his first ever start. I thought he really pitched well. He went five innings and battled every batter. Even though we lost the game, we felt Friday was a landmark because we found our second legitimate starting pitcher.

Saturday we played what may have been our best all-around game of the season, winning 10-6.

We had several kids get their first batting contact of the season, and several of those batted balls were extra base hits.

We also got plays in the field!

We ended one inning with a flawlessly handled grounder to SS, who cleanly fielded the ball and tossed it to the 2B who was, as we've done in practice, covering second for a force play.

We ended another inning when a pop on the infield was called for and caught by the SS.

Our SS had a pretty good day.

These plays may sound routine but I've come to believe that no play in the field is routine at this level. I don't know that we would have been able to make the force play in practice in our first week. These successes mean a great deal to me, and I think they mean the world to the players who are making them.

Hopefully our hitting will continue to improve, as our players overcome the stage fright that comes with game ABs, and emulate the swings they show us in practice, where everybody seems to make contact almost every time out.

Monday we'll probably bring the pitch-back to practice and work on short-distance pops and flies. We've done well on these before, and been less successful on long, high flies. I think we need to work on the mechanics of catching pops.

I would also like to work with hitters on the tee or in soft toss so we can work our hitting mechanics, like swing angles, step directions and arm and hand positioning.