Softball

Monday, March 15 – Today was the first day of Softball practice for this school year. Because it was just the beginning of the season and not all the players knew each other’s names, the coaches decided we would start by introducing ourselves and talking about why we decided to play Softball this year. I told everyone my name and said that I was playing this year because I had played last year and wanted to continue, and because I really enjoyed being the catcher on the team. After this introduction we stretched out and were told that the first practice would be mainly dedicated to conditioning to get our muscles toned and strengthened for the season. So we did some running drills and we did pushups and sit ups to try and get back into shape. I was surprised to find that I did very well with these drills and was in better shape than I had realized. It was a successful first practice.

Wednesday, March 17 – Today at Softball practice we were told that we would be working out the mechanics of the sport by doing things like catching, throwing, base running, and hitting. We started by stretching out and then we moved to the catching and throwing. We each got a partner who we stood ten feet away from to start. We threw the ball to them and then every time we made five successful throws in a row we would move back a few steps and try throwing from a farther distance away. The coached went around to each player and pointed out any mistakes they were making in the mechanics of throwing the ball. After this, we moved to base running. We did a drill where we all lined up and ran to first base, then got back in line and ran to second base, then got back in line and ran to third, and so on. It was tiring but overall everyone did well. We were unable to get to hitting today but we were told we would do it next time for practice.

Thursday, March 18 – Today we did not have practice because it was raining.

Friday, March 19 – Today in Softball practice the coaches kept their promise of letting us hit for a while. First, as always, we stretched out and then the coaches informed us that we would be repeating the same base running drill we had done last practice at the beginning of every practice from now on. So we ran the bases and I felt that I was already improving in that. Then we finally got to the hitting. We all lined up and went one after another to hit and after we hit we went out into the field in no particular position and helped catch the balls being hit. When it was my turn I was pleased to discover that I could hit each of the balls into the outfield. Some were grounders but most of them were line drives which meant I was off to a good start for the season. After this we all went to random positions in the field and practiced fielding the ball to first base. We made some mistakes but in general we were all able to successfully get the ball to first base even if we missed it the first time. It was a good practice.