Closer to victory

Darby's team actually scored runs tonight. They got within a few runs of the opposing team but ran out of time before they could catch up.

Darby had a single and a double, though the double should have been at least a triple or homer as she didn't see where the ball went and thought she had popped it back foul (as she had done previously in that at bat), so she stood around obliviously while ALL the parents in the stands were yelling for her to run. Her delay allowed the other team to get the ball back in and hold her to second. Her two hits were moot, though, as she was stranded without being able to score.

I feel her team is suffering in the run production department (and thereby not winning) because their four or five most consistent hitters are scattered throughout the lineup instead of batting the top four spots. For example, the lead-off batter often strikes out or grounds out, Darby (the second batter) hits a single more often than not, and the two girls after Darby almost always strike out, very often leaving Darby stranded. Then, the next at bat, the first girl up usually hits, followed by a couple of occasional hitters, followed by a good hitter. I don't understand why the coach hasn't tweaked the lineup one bit since we started play. I believe they would start winning or get much closer if he would make some minor adjustments (in particular, if he would get his yet-to-touch-the-ball-with-her-bat-in-seven-games daughter out of the cleanup spot, not that it's at all his daughter's fault). I like the coach personally and all, but sometimes I wonder just a little about his big picture coaching strategy.

In the defense department, Darby played third base the whole game. Even though we spent some dedicated time just last night talking about the difference between a force out and a non-force out, as well as the duties of each position, she missed a put-out due to tagging third instead of the runner. She also had issues running off and leaving third unattended when there were runners headed her way. She did eventually clue in and got a nice put-out, tagging a runner from second and holding the next advancing runner to their base.

Tonight we finally got the team's full season schedule. I have posted game times to the calendar for interested family.