SOFTBALL: We WILL practice Thursday afternoon!

Just a reminder (and for those who couldn't make last night's scrimmage), we WILL have our regular practice tonight at the Finley Farms park. Emmy will be out there at 4:30, for any of you able to arrive early.

We're going to focus on hitting and pitching tonight. We'll have one of the coaches pitch and rotate girls through, with emphasis on batting stance and form, getting a level swing and maybe some bunting. We're also going to work with pitchers (and potential pitchers) and catchers (and potential catchers), two of each at a time.

Wednesday scrimmage

The scrimmage game on Wednesday is at 4:30 PM at Taylor Junior High School, 705 S 32nd St in Mesa (near the corner of 32nd and Pueblo).

That's about halfway between Southern and Broadway, between Val Vista and Lindsay. The other coach suggests parking in the Taylor Elementary School lot on Pueblo and walking straight back through the gate, past the baseball field and the first softball field to the second softball field.

With it getting dark by about 6 PM, getting there on time (or early) would be greatly appreciated so we can make the most of this opportunity. Folks have been arriving later and later for practices--I only had one girl besides my daughter there at 5 PM today, and we had some arriving as late as 5:20. That's not really fair to the girls or to the coaches and parents who do get there on time. I know we all have plenty of other responsibilities, but anything we can do to improve on this would be greatly appreciated.

And remember, Emmy is available to offer rides to as many as five other girls in the van, if you let her know early enough. Her number is 517-290-0623.

Please let me know if you WON'T be able to make it on Wednesday, either by return e-mail or at 517-410-8580.

Thanks, everyone. See you out there!

Regular practice schedule set & Uniform orders

Good practice tonight! Here's the latest:

PRACTICES: Going forward, our practice schedule is going to be Mondays at Mountain View and Thursdays at Finley Farms. Below is a map to Finley Farms. (Click it for a larger version.) There's also a map to Mountain View farther down this page.

Practices will start officially at 5 PM, but with it getting darker earlier, Emmy will be out there at 4:30 or so if anyone wants to arrive early. That's a good time for pitchers and catchers to show up, by the way, and anyone else who might want some extra instruction.

I know those times don't work for everyone, but there actually weren't two days, other than Monday and Tuesday, that did. And I didn't want to practice two days in a row, then not for the rest of the week. So we'll do the best we can with this.

THURSDAY: On Thursday we'll practice sliding, so everyone should wear either long pants or sliding shorts and pads. Also, I'd really like to see the girls wearing visors out there, especially on the right side of the infield.

UNIFORM ORDER: I'll be turning in the uniform order to NYS on Tuesday afternoon and at Thursday's practice will need to collect $7 from each family for having names put on the jerseys. I also need payment for the pants, if you ordered them. I think only one girl did. Cash would be appreciated--checks are kind of a hassle. If there are any changes, please let me know Tuesday by about 2 PM.

ROSTER: Right now we have 12 girls on the roster. Everyone bats, and we play 10 in the field (four outfielders), so no one will have to sit out often. But that also means we need to be sure that everyone will be able to make it to all the games--in the past, we've had rosters of about 15 girls, and most games we had only 12 or 13 who could be there.

So please let me know ASAP if there will be weekends when you won't be able to make it to games so I can make sure we have enough players present each week to avoid any forfeits. I'm hesitant to add any more players to the roster, because that means more people sitting, but I don't want to get caught short, either.

(Tami, can you get me contact info for Alyssa's family?)

Thanks! See you all Thursday!

Practice times

All team practices, regardless of location, will be scheduled from 5 to 6:30 PM (or until sunset, whichever comes first). It was pointed out to me that I neglected to provide this essential bit of info in my last note.

Softball update

We had a couple of good practices this week and it looks like we have a solid, well-rounded team. And special thanks to the coaches who stuck around and worked with the girls on Thursday after I had to leave!

Practices: On Monday we'll be practicing on the junior varsity field--with a skinned infield and dugouts--up at Mountain View High School, located at Brown and Lindsay, up in Mesa.

Above is a map showing a couple of ways to get there (click on it to see a MUCH larger version), as well as the location of the field on the Mountain View campus and some places where you can park. We'll also set a regular practice schedule on Monday--probably once a week up at Mountain View and once a week at Finley Farms--depending on what will work best for the most people. (You can download a larger copy of the map as a PDF here.)

I'm hoping everyone can be there on Monday--I'd like to break the team into a couple of squads and scrimmage for the last half hour. Also, a reminder that everyone should bring a water bottle (or something to drink) and a hat or visor to practices. That setting sun is going to be a problem for anyone playing on the right side of the infield (1st base and 2nd base), as well as the right and right-center fielders.

Parents: I'll have the sheet where you order pants and socks with me on Monday--bring your checkbooks if you're ordering those or having your daughter's name put on the back of her jersey.

I also need a team parent--it can be a mom, dad, grandparent--someone who can take charge of getting the uniform order filled out and dropping it off at NYS, putting together a snack schedule for games and upcoming practices (thanks to Coach Andrea for bringing the sports drinks last time--we'll bring some on Monday), and to organize (or get a group together to organize) trophies (or medals--we've done both) and an end-end-of-season party.

And Tami, I need contact info for Alissa and her folks--could you forward this to them?

Coaches: Ever since we moved to Arizona, I've been amazed by how many knowledgeable and experienced coaches we have among softball parents here. I'd like to use that to the girls' and team's best advantage. So I'd ask each of you to think about what YOU think we need to spend time on--we should be able to squeeze in four more practices before our first game on Oct. 17--and then we'll rotate who runs practices (or different parts of the practices) as we go forward.

One of the most embarrassing things I ever experienced in softball was having a guy as an assistant coach for a whole summer up in Michigan and later finding out he was a lot better coach than I. From what I've seen, any of you coaches could run this team, so we need to get all of you out front more and teaching and coaching the things you know best.

See you all Monday!