Softball Tournament & Speedy Pete

Wednesday was Moiola's softball tournament. We learned something about our girl, Heather, that day. She is f a s t. Since there was never a chance that Moiola was going to win anything that day, I didn't expect this really positive experience. Boy, was I surprised.

Moiola is one of 4 middle schools in the district. We are the only K - 8 school; the others are traditional middle schools, 6th - 8th grade. At the end of 5th grade, if you are a serious athlete, you will probably choose to go to one of the traditional middle schools, and most do. The downside is that Moiola never comes in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and is referred to by some as the "losing school". The upside is that every child has the opportunity to play for the team and have opportunities that many of them would never have elsewhere (the other schools go through many cuts and keep only the best athletes on the team), and our kids have a lot of fun.

So here is our girl who has never played softball before. I give her my glove and my cleats and because her dad is working late most of the days prior to the tournament, I grab his glove and become her throwing/catching partner. She was a little stunned when I pulled cleats out of my bag (why is it that kids can't ever imagine their parents moving athletically?), but she could tell I knew what I was doing. It was fun to watch her prep for the tournament. She went from no skill to a little skill with the catching and throwing (Kelly did get a session in with her which helped a lot in catching), and her batting skills were no worse than the other kids who hadn't played before.

On tournament day, I arrived an hour after everything had started, but hadn't missed too much, or so I thought. I'll explain that in a minute. I watched Heather in the outfield and at bat a couple of times. Her at bats were not spectacular, except that she proved to be a bit spectacular. The hits she got had no power, and the balls just rolled out aways from home plate, but Heather ran for first like there was no tomorrow! The other teams were good, and they were able to get her out at first, but there was something remarkable about the three different times this happened. The opposing teams were so good that they should have had the runner out before she was half way to the base, but every time they got Heather out, it was by a hair. She made it literally about half an inch from the base each time. Myself and a few other parents were crazy screaming, but when she was called out, we just kept cheering. Oh my goodness was she fast! She looked at me like we were nuts because she didn't make it to the base and we were cheering like nutters. We were not the only ones who noticed. Some of the opposing school parents noticed, and Heather's teammates started calling her "speedy".

At one point, I walked over to talk to Heather because I could see she was really bugged that she was only getting to play outfield twice each game. The coach/teacher told her it was so that the 8th graders could have a chance to play their last year, but it was a weak reason, and Heather knew it. There were a couple of 7th graders and a couple of 6th graders out each inning as well as the two 5th graders who were recruited because of their experience. I should have been bugged because of the politics, but it is what it is, and I was so proud of my girl that I had to tell her. She was bugged by not getting to play, and I told her that she'll be in 8th grade one day and be playing every inning. Then I said with pride absolutely oozing out my eyeballs, "But forget that! You are FAST! Did you hear us screaming for you?" She thought we were teasing her. I had so much pride beaming from me that I knew she could tell I wasn't just trying to make her feel better. I told her it didn't matter that she got out, and how she never should have been able to get that far as good as those teams are. She started catching on that she was doing something well. I used that momentum to pump her up about her outfield position at right field. I told her it looked like a boring spot, but every single one of those teams were good enough to hit out there and she needed to be ready. She was totally listening and although not one ball came her way, she was poised and ready every time.

After the tournament, she asked me if I saw her home run. I was there the entire time except that first part which is when I apparently did miss something. She told me it was a base hit, but she ran past first base while the ball was being thrown to first. She kept going as the team scrambled to get the ball to the base she was running for, but they just missed each time. The ball was never out of play so she just kept running. When she crossed home plate, the umpire marked the run, and her teacher told her they'd yelled at her to stay at third. She said she never heard her. I think the wind was in her ears.

I'm still not sure how that whole home run thing went down, but I can't wait for the track tournament!