Changes for next year:
Join the C league. We had absolutely no chance of beating some of the better teams in the B league. There were 2 teams in particular that were way better than us. There were 2 teams I thought we could beat, and 2 teams that were slightly better than us. But if I had to do it over again, I would join the C league, nobody likes to lose every game.
Buy equipment not uniforms. We pooled our money to buy everyone a cool looking, tight fiting, uncomfortable shirt for the season. They had a really great design with our number and nickname on the back. They were extra expensive because of the lettering and the company that made the shirts made them too small and they felt as if they were on backwards when you wore them. Funny stuff, but I think our money would have been better spent on a couple of good bats. I don't think anyone on our team realizes how a good bat can make all of the difference in the world. I'm sure our team average would have been better if we had a few good bats. I do appreciate all of the hard work that Manny, Cameron, and Velvet put into those cool shirts.
Better batting instructions. I spent so much time each practice going over fielding, relays, defense, etc that we never had much time to break down each persons swing and go into details on how to become a better hitter. We had so much work to do fielding wise that I never felt that batting would matter that much, and it probably didn't, but in those few close games that we lost an extra run or two would of put us over the top.
Walk. The real difference between the good teams and the bad teams is that good teams don't swing at bad pitches. Good teams generate a lot of walks. I never drilled this point home enough. The best teams beat us by 10 or more runs each time we played them, but they didn't hit 20 home runs. They hit one or two home runs, but the bases were usually loaded when they hit those homers. They know how to take a lot of pitches, get base on balls, and not strikeout. It's a lot harder than it sounds and it takes practice. When you get a strike your natural instinct is to swing at the next pitch no matter where it's at because you don't want to strikeout. But the better hitters know how to identify a ball and not swing, even if they already have a strike.
Don't keep statistics. Who cares anyway? Let's focus on wins, not stats.
We need more females. League rules require that half of the team on the field is female, half is male. We barely had enough females each game and it made substitutions really hard. I wish I had more options so that I could put in a pinch hitter or move people around in the field. I'm proud of the girls we had, they played hard and gave 100%, I just wish we had more of them.
Things we did right:
Practice. Our team was pretty dedicated when it came to practicing. I'm proud of them for working so hard, we came a long way from the first practice to the last game. Heck, we even skipped the first game because we had a scheduled practice. :)
Cut-Offs. There are two points I worked on over and over in practice and the first one was hitting your cut-off. From the first game to the last game we did an excellent job of knowing where to be and who to throw the ball to when we had it.
Backing Up. The second point I worked on over and over was backing up the cut-off. We did this better than any team in the league, I have no doubt about this.
Base running. I thought for a first year team we did an excellent job running the bases.
Communication. On defense we did a great job of yelling out where to throw the ball, and when we were base running we did a great job helping the runners along. I've seen teams do this terribly and for a first year team we did a great job.
PK's. Thank goodness for a cold beer, hot pizza, and the camaraderie of friends after each game.
Looking at our defense:
Outfield. It didn't take long for me to realize that our fastest players needed to be in the outfield. The majority of the hits go to the outfield and there is a lot of territory to cover. I thought after the first few games we got it right and were doing a great job out there. Brian probably had more outfield assists than anyone else in the league and gets my vote for team MVP.
Pitching. Mike was our only pitcher the entire season. It's way harder than it looks and he did a great job. It took about half the season before I realized he was gripping the ball wrong resulting in too many walks, but overall he did a great job. I still don't know who I would of put at pitcher if he wasn't there every game.
Catcher. Beth was a trooper and probably our most improved player from the beginning of the year to the end. That first few games the umpire did more catching than she did, but by the end of the year she was doing awesome. It's a tough gig back there and she never once complained.
Shortstop. Becky was by far the best female shortstop in our league
Second base. I'll never forget Marisa missing that one throw and it hitting the dude right in the, ugh, well, “private parts”. Awesome stuff, no way was I putting anyone else at second base after that gold-glove play. :)
First base, third base. I had a lot of options to choose from at these positions. I'm sorry I couldn't get everyone all of the playing team they wanted. It's hard to plan out substitutions when you only get to play 4 or 5 innings. I think everyone who played did a great job, we just needed more innings so that everyone could get more playing time.
Overall we came a long way from that first game to our last game. I'm proud of our team. We played together, never argued, never gave up, and were always encouraging each other. Thanks for a great year and I can't wait to kick some (C league) butt next season. :)
