| Teams | Innings | Runs | Hits | Errors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Us | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Sharks | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 0 | |
| Poole, M | 1-1, 2R, 2BB, SB |
| Faber, C | 1-2, 2RBI, SB |
| Taylor, B | 1-2, 2RBI, R, BB |
| Wilcock, A | 1-2, R, BB, SB |
| Linnane, J | 2IP, 11H, 9R (7ER), 2BB, 2K |
That Sharks team are not a 6th grade. They were originally graded in 7th and have now joined us in 6th. Nothing we can do about it. But they would challenge most team in the grade we just left. Despite that we managed a credible performance with incremental improvements on recent games. Everyone put bat on ball – not always with success but contact is important. Once the ball’s in play they have to get you out, and then anything can happen.
A couple of fielding blemishes in the first innings gave them a couple of runs and kept us in the field a little longer than we would have liked but we made the plays in the later innings to help keep the score in check.
We have plenty of things to work on, but I think anticipation is the big missing ingredient. The basic idea is to think “if [this happens] what do I do?” This applies to batting, fielding and running the bases. When on base if the ball is hit – am I forced to run, if the ball could be caught do I tag up, go half way or run until told to stop. Keeping track of the number of outs is also important, because that changes what you might have to do. For fielding if the ball is hit near me where should I throw it, if I don’t get the ball where can I back up? For batting it’s more about looking to hit the ball on every pitch, stepping towards the pitcher in anticipation then deciding to go through with the swing or not. With 2 strikes on being ready to run to first on a strike that is dropped by the catcher is important. We learned a tough lesson today by not knowing the game situation with loaded bases and a dropped third strike. Though there was some less than ideal coaching on the play.
Matt was doing some long distance coaching when Ethan was at second in our forth innings. There were a lot of instructions – take a lead, starting moving the pitch and come back towards the base if the ball is not put into play. This basic instruction applies no matter which base you are at. What might change is how far from the base you should go on the pitch. But being in motion is critically important.
Take every opportunity to look at the way the opposition goes about playing the game. Some are worth copying, some not. But they can all provide learning opportunity. And ask lots of questions.
Next game: St Pats v St George at Kelso 2 on 12:30 Sun (29/10)
