Softball and Butterflies

Today we're talking softball. Because it's spring and softball is a huge part of our lives in the spring.

K's softball team has 2 usually good pitchers with experience at 10U and one up-and-coming pitcher who's new to 10U. Experience at this level is important as the pitching rubber moves back 5', it's all girl pitch (no more "modified" where the coach steps in after 3 balls), and the skill and intensity and dedication of the players jumps hugely between 8U and 10U. Unfortunately, only 1 of those 3 pitchers is actually pitching well right now. C is on fire, while her twin, who is historically the better pitcher, gets freaked whenever there's a batter at the plate. Last season, she hit a couple of batters and ever since she's been so worried about hitting someone that she consistently throws outside. The new pitcher is doing okay, but she's got some work to catch up.

So we're training up some new pitchers. There's a couple of girls who've been working on pitching, but only one has pitched in a game. K had pitched a few games last year, but she while she wanted to pitch, she wasn't committed enough that she wanted to actually *practice*. She has finally decided that she does indeed want to pitch enough to practice everyday, especially since our 2 main pitchers will be missing Saturday's game and they need someone else who can get the ball over the plate periodically.

You'll be so excited when I let you know that I told you all of that backstory just to get to the following funny little nugget.

Today we had a mini pitching session here at our little park before the pitching practice with the coaches. L accompanied K and I to the park and she brought along her own hand-me-down glove because she wanted to play, too. We formed a little triangle and began tossing the ball around to warm up.

Now L is a fairly athletic little person. She may not want to play sports, but she has some natural abilities that show up pretty quickly when we're playing around with a softball or soccer ball. She can throw a softball strongly and accurately, but she can't catch it because she's always jumping out of the way so she doesn't get hit. She's also not all that committed to the game.

Case in point:

Today I had thrown her a ball which had bounced past her because she moved *away* just as it got to her. She turned and ran after the ball. As she was running, she suddenly exclaimed, "Butterfly!", and turned to chase a bright yellow butterfly that happened to cross her path.

The softball was completely forgotten.

So we'll leave softball to K and let L revel in her dancing. She and I are off to a dance competition in Myrtle Beach this weekend, so I'm liking the dance thing pretty well myself. I'll be the one sitting on the beach, watching the waves roll in and the little girls splashing and laughing, as bright and carefree as butterflies, as they dance along the sand just for the fun of it.