I got the chance to head down to the Flint area of Michigan yesterday to watch my youngest niece play softball with her community league team. I've been watching my other nieces play softball for so long that it is hard to remember they were ever this small.
It's definitely a different experience watching kids this young try to learn the basics of the game as many of them have likely never picked up a bat, glove, and ball before.
It's coach pitch, with a lot of modified rules, so that adds a bit of excitement to the game as well. Since it is your coach pitching to you, they are going to give you the best possible shot at hitting the ball. I was actually impressed with just how well some of these little ladies could hit!
My nieces team ended up beating the other team something like 25 to 0, but I am not sure if they were really keeping score that closely. I think the key thing is they seemed to be learning a lot of the basic skills and strategies that will serve them well should they decide to continue playing as they grow up.
As expected, there were a few miscues here and there, but they will figure those out eventually. For example, keeping track of how many outs you have. If you already have two outs, go for the easy out at first base, you don't need to try and chase down the girl heading towards home plate. The fact is you are probably going to miss her and just extend the inning for the other team. Yes, that actually happened in this game.
Regardless, it was still great to get to watch her play.
Meanwhile, the first round of the Women's College World Series took place yesterday with four games being played. I think it's pretty crappy that the two Big Ten teams left in the tourney had to play against each other right off the bat, but UCLA took down Oregon 4 to 2. Oregon still has a chance, but one more loss and they are out. They face Ole Miss today in an elimination game.
Speaking of Ole Miss, they fell to Texas Tech 1 to 0. Texas Tech's offense seems a little light lately. It's going to take more than just the arm of Canady to push them to the championship.
Oklahoma took down Tennessee 4 to 3 pushing them down into the elimination game against Florida who lost to Texas 3 to 0 in the first game yesterday.
As you can see, the scores have been really close. I think that is a testament to how good all of these teams are. They aren't giving an inch and short of an epic meltdown, I don't think we are going to see any crazy scores from here on out.
The elimination games start tonight at 7 PM EST and then tomorrow we have another round of games between the undefeated teams. By the end of the weekend we should have two teams left who will face each other in the best of three finals.
I'll give you all the updated info next week!
My Sports Account - @bozz.sports
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