(Almost) Got Game

Shelby got another tally today at school, making it four for the week so far. If she gets two more tomorrow, that's a trip to the office. If she gets in trouble beyond that, the school will swat her. I had been telling her all summer that 1st grade is nothing like kindergarten, that it's the real deal and much harder (based on my experience with Darby's K-to-1st transition). Now she's starting to say that first grade is too hard, which is not a good sign a mere three weeks into the school year.

But she had a good fencing lesson at least. She had her first "combat" today, sparring another kid her size in full gear for points. We've contemplated taking away her fencing lessons if her school performance doesn't improve, but we're not sure she cares, plus I feel strongly about each kid having at least one extra-curricular activity, and this is all she's got.


Darby had a very good, very active ballgame. Hitting was typical, a strikeout and a single, but she played pitcher today for the first time during a game (in machine pitch that means standing next to the machine and just having to worry about defense -- infield grounders, shallow pop-flies, etc), and she did a good job. She was running all over the place after that ball. I almost think she has to play a high-attention position like catcher or pitcher in order to keep her interest in the game. It's the only time she doesn't play in the dirt and get yelled at by the coach to pay attention.

While Darby's team didn't break their winless streak today, the got VERY close. They held the opposing team to zero runs until the last inning, when they allowed one run to come in (unfortunately due to a fielder's choice by Darby -- throwing to first for the force instead of to home to hold the runner on third... maybe not such a bad deal, but she threw wide to first, drawing the fielder off the bag so we didn't even get that out). Even then, they got two runners on in the bottom half of the inning, but weren't able to get them in, probably their biggest remaining problem, as they are definite starting to hit and field better. In every inning they left one or two runners on the bases, which I attribute largely to lineup strategy, and maybe a little to base running skills (i.e. getting the kids to watch the base coaches, which are doing a good job).

The lineup has changed slightly recently -- for the better -- but there are still fundamental problems. For example, in the the last inning when there were two runners on, and we only needed one to tie, there were two outs and batter number three was due up. In a properly stacked lineup, batter number three coming up is a good thing. In tonight's case, not so much, as our number three batter (as hard as she is trying) has never touched the ball with her bat.