Nathan struggled in one game, but like you said, if he keeps his eye on the ball, he can hit just fine.
I actually have a few notes from Josh's home run, in the fourth inning. He grounded it to the pitcher, who threw it past the first baseman. I think the first baseman threw it toward second, too late. The ball went into left field? and Josh came to third. Even if the ball had been returned to the infield dirt, you waved Josh home, confident the Bats couldn't make the play at home.
Stephen make a heads-up play. From third base, he scored a run. As the play continued out in the field, I noticed him go back and make sure he touched the plate.
If Matt Smith gets his swing back, he'll hit one over the fence before his Pinto career is over.
Matthew somehow developed a sweet swing playing in the yard. Last year in Shetland he got to where he would get the bat on the pitch most of the time, though it would rarely travel out of the infield grass. You can tell that it may have taken him a while to get the hang of Tracy pitching from the rubber, harder and farther away, but he has been hitting it harder and further lately. He is funny with his batting gloves. Yesterday he went 3 for 3.
The play in the field was hilarious. He doesn't seem to be scared of sharply hit balls. I asked him what happened when he fell down running to second, and he said he 'stepped in a hole'. Today I told Will that Matthew's batting average was higher than his!
Will has been able to keep the swing that you and Skip taught him, especially as the seasons progress. He hits it hard, and has hit some a long way on that huge field by the concession stand, not bad for a 12 year old. Saturday he pitched three no-hit innings.
Corey Hursh is something. Saturday he made a great diving play at shortstop. In three games he has come to the plate 9 times and scored 8 runs, going 4-6 with two walks.
Malcolm goes up to the plate and hits the ball hard. Saturday in centerfield he charged a sinking line drive, and at the last second changed the position of his glove to make the catch. His pitching has also improved. This is turning into a fun season!
From: Coach Tim
My lofty goals for this team are mostly offense oriented since that's what I love...
- Have a game with no strikeouts
- a game with no baserunning errors
- game with 20 runs scored (I've never done it or if I have it may have been one 22 run game I had in pinto national because only 8 of our players showed up on a spring break weekend and they all were great batters...can't recall if it was 19 or over 20)
- teach one of our kids to hit it over the fence... I think I can get Christian or Scott to do it.
Didn't Matthew go 4 for 4 yesterday? His out at 3rd was a thing of joy... I started jumping up and down and celebrating before he even got to third because I knew it was a sure out. My wife and I agree that Matthew looks like Will when he's batting and running. I will tell you his batting "form" is one of the best on the team. His stance and grip and the way he sets up at the plate is really really good. If he can keep that up over the next 2 or 3 years then he will have a real solid foundation. Whereas although Will is a great player when I would see him in Mustang his coaches were not teaching him the right techniques...my very humble opinion on that. The earlier you can ingrain the right form into their muscle memory the better. That's why I don't like the travel teams because they play too many games to get the form down right... They learn a bad habit and then ingrain it over 50 games.
As always THANK YOU for all your help.
Regards,
-Tim
From: DCM
Just noticed an interesting stat about the game last night. 34 Rock Hounds came up to bat, and only one batter struck out the entire game! This shows considerable improvement.
Game 2: 35 batters / 9 strikeouts
Game 3: 35 batters / 6 strikeouts
Game 4: 34 batters / 1 strikeout
And Josh had a game to remember last night. It's not often anyone has a 4 - 4 night, even in Little League. He even had the home run!
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