Offensive Defense

First game of the season and we were a bit rusty. We lost to the Darien Yankees 16-9. The game was suspended due to darkness after 4-1/2 innings. That consituted a complete game. Too bad because we were taking advantage of some of their gaffes and coming back in that 5th inning. The main story about what killed us was all about defense. We didn't do too well. It's funny but the bigger thing we were worried about, the kids being out of position, wasn't really the problem. It was very simple fundamentals: catch the ball cleanly and throw the ball accurately. We are going to have to work on that hard over the next couple weeks. There is a home game at the A. Vito Martinez middle school field on 135th this Wednesday then another on Saturday afternoon at Romeoville Century Park. Let's hope they figure out the defense by then. Our hitting was good; so was our pitching - not stellar but average. We did have a costly baserunning error. We just taught this the day before: before going for that second base on a hit, pick up your 3rd base coach (me). I was giving him the stop sign but he never looked and was easily tagged out at 2nd. Kids. But you know what, how many times do we see it even in the pros.

Alec was 0-2 with a walk and a run scored. Those two outs were hard hit balls though. They just went to someone. I think he will be fine. Keep hitting like that and good things will happen. He did pitch an inning and a half. We took him out in his second inning. The other team did hit the ball well but a few defensive lapses kept that inning going for a while. When Alec was in center field he did make one stellar assist in getting to a ball that was a hit and throwing out the kid trying to stretch it into a double. He is so good out there: gets to the ball quick and has a good arm. He plays a great center field. We are also going to see about him at shortstop in addition to the other positions of pitching and 1st base. Oh, and by the way, the kids voted him and one other kid as the team captains. How about that!

It was only the first game. Let's get better next time.