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Tigers played the Diamond Kings tonight in a fight for 3rd place in our league. We had beat them early in the year and they beat us once as well. The Tigers and Diamond Kings battled back and forth throughout the game. The score was 0-0 after two innings.
The Diamond Kings put two runs on the board in the top of the third - unfortunately, the got a little help from the umpires - Holden threw out the runner stealing - but the runner was called safe. This would prove to be the story of our night.
The next inning - we got caught stealing on a play that our runner not only slid under the tag - but beat the ball to the bag as well. We put one run back on the board and were down 2-1 after 3.
No runs for either team in the 4th - and the DK's picked up one more run in the 5th to take the lead 3-1.
The Tigers continued to leave runners on base throughout the night (almost two every inning) - and looked at too many called third strikes. Our pitcher used up his pitch count - so our relief pitcher headed into the game - and gave up one run to extend their lead to 4-1. We mounted a rally - but were stopped short again by an umpire call - the first baseman dropped the ball on a force out at first - but the umpire called him safe. We managed to only get 1 run in and lost 4-2.
Holden had him a great game tonight, though - as he threw out a runner at 2nd (that was actually called), threw one out that wasn't called, and made some key stops behind the plate. He got to play in the field for an inning as well - and we missed him that inning at catcher. Possibly one of the runs came across because they stole 3 bases on our other catcher (including 3rd). Holden and I have been working with hand weights to get our hands through the ball swinging for the past couple of days - and it paid off today. Holden went 3 for 3 with two singles and double.
Freshman High School tryouts will be in a couple of weeks - so, he will need to keep his hitting sharp. I'm never worried about his fielding anymore - so we have some hard work in front of us between now and then.
The weekend brings us zero in the form of sporting events for the kids (I have an old man game on Sunday). School is just about done - so the kids will be very happy. If there is anything exciting - I'll keep you posted!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
An Eventful Uneventful Weekend
OK - when I last wrote - we were on deck for a crazy busy weekend ... but as always - schedules and events are subject to change.
Thursday's PRIDE awards for hospitality went great - it was hosted at our property - and we had 9 people chosen as finalists. We ended up with 4 winners - and the event went off without a hitch. Unfortunately - none of the winners were my team members - but I'm still proud of them.
Friday was a long day at work - as it was our Employee Crawfish Boil. Lots of fun - lots of crawfish, and an impromptu duet with my friend and HR Director Karl singing - "If I Had a Million Dollars". I am quite sure it will end up on the internet somewhere ... I don't think you will find a link on this blog, though. I'm sure it was brutal - but we still had a good time. All in all - I think the team had a good time.
Saturday - Mallory ended up not playing in the tournament this week. The team played, but Mallory chose not play with the Heat this week. It is a long story - but let's just say, I'm proud of Mallory staying true to her friends and morals. Unfortunately - it left the day wide open ... so the family went out to the fields and had our own practice. Holden and I both had practices on Sunday - and it took me a day and a few bags of ice to recover from mine.
Monday was the Airline Softball banquet. I was so proud to be Mallory's dad - and proud to be a coach to many of the girls on the team. Mallory was chosen 1st team All-District Infielder - this was her 2nd straight 1st team All-District honor. Also - for the 2nd straight year - Mallory was an Academic All-District honoree. I hope she works hard on her off season regiment and continues to improve her skills - and I hope she can get her a state championship like her 2nd cousin Zach Gibbons did for Saguaro High in Arizona. It was a great finish to a nice season for Mallory.
Monday also resulted in a 7-1 win for the Tigers against the Yankees (again). Holden played a few innings at catcher, an inning at 3rd and one at shortstop. He went 1-2 and made what he believes to be an error in the field. We have our last game of the year on Thursday against the Diamond Kings which is going to be a tough game for our Tigers. They need to have their game faces on for the big game. Until then - keep rooting on the Tigers!
Thursday's PRIDE awards for hospitality went great - it was hosted at our property - and we had 9 people chosen as finalists. We ended up with 4 winners - and the event went off without a hitch. Unfortunately - none of the winners were my team members - but I'm still proud of them.
Friday was a long day at work - as it was our Employee Crawfish Boil. Lots of fun - lots of crawfish, and an impromptu duet with my friend and HR Director Karl singing - "If I Had a Million Dollars". I am quite sure it will end up on the internet somewhere ... I don't think you will find a link on this blog, though. I'm sure it was brutal - but we still had a good time. All in all - I think the team had a good time.
Saturday - Mallory ended up not playing in the tournament this week. The team played, but Mallory chose not play with the Heat this week. It is a long story - but let's just say, I'm proud of Mallory staying true to her friends and morals. Unfortunately - it left the day wide open ... so the family went out to the fields and had our own practice. Holden and I both had practices on Sunday - and it took me a day and a few bags of ice to recover from mine.
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| Mallory Hall displaying her awards from the 2011 Softball Season |
Monday also resulted in a 7-1 win for the Tigers against the Yankees (again). Holden played a few innings at catcher, an inning at 3rd and one at shortstop. He went 1-2 and made what he believes to be an error in the field. We have our last game of the year on Thursday against the Diamond Kings which is going to be a tough game for our Tigers. They need to have their game faces on for the big game. Until then - keep rooting on the Tigers!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Another week of Ball in the Books!
The weekend started off with Mallory heading to Alexandria to play in a tournament with a travel team out of Rayville, LA called "The Heat". This is the same group she played with last year for part of the year. We had an early game - and Mallory and I headed to Alexandria around 6am. The first game was against St. Mary's - our team handled them easily for the pool game and we won 8-0. Mallory went 0-1 with a walk and a stolen base. Played 2nd and SS in the field and got no action!
The second pool game was against a team called Diamond Dust. Our girls played well - but came up just a little short and lost 6-5. Mallory got a little action on defense - again - went 0-1 with a walk ... and a stolen base (showing off her wheels!)
The first bracket game was against a team called the Louisiana Angels - a nemesis of the Lady Vikings that I coached for the past few years. The play a lot of "small ball" - using bunts and aggressive baserunning to get their runs. My teams in the past were better prepared for this type of team - but this team had some infielders playing in positions they weren't used to - and we committed a bunch of errors (6 to be exact). It's pretty tough to come back when you make that many mistakes. We ended up losing 6-1. Mallory was part of a spectacular double play ... a bunt was fielded by the pitcher - Mal was a little late getting to the bag - and the pitcher threw it high and to the right of the bag. Mal caught the ball while backpeddling over the bag - and fired home at the baserunner trying to score. The throw was dead on - and the runner was tagged out by the catcher. That was the only highlight for our team ... Mal did get on base with a walk - and stole a base ... so identical stat line as the other games. (0-1, BB, SB).
Unfortunately, that ended our portion of the weekend in softball - as the next game was on Sunday afternoon - and Mallory had a scheduled shift at the Tennis Center and couldn't play the next day. The tournament was originally scheduled to be a one day tournament - but turned into a two day tournament at the last minute.
Holden had two games this week - and both happened to be against the Yankees. Monday's game was one of the worst games we have played. Unfortunately - Holden was the starting pitcher. The first inning the Yankees scored 3 runs on Holden - Holden allowed a couple of costly walks in the inning - but only after we made 3 errors in the inning. This seemed to be the story of the day for our team. Holden ended up pitching 2 innings giving up 5 runs - all unearned because of errors. With the game being close - we turned over catching duties to Holden. After the two innings we were tied 5-5. Holden hit a 2 RBI single for his first at bat - with a shot between the LF and CF. The Tigers continued to boot the ball around - and we kept giving the Yankees a chance to win the game. Even though we had 7 errors in the game and numerous baserunning errors and missed signals - the Yankees had 8 - and allowed us to take the win home 10-8. Holden ended up 1-2 - the 2nd at bat was a long fly ball caught by the centerfielder.
The 2nd game of the week was the same result - but a much better performance. Our other catcher came back and caught a couple of innings - allowing Holden to get a break and play a little Shortstop. This time - both teams played sharper on defense with only 1 error by the Tigers and only 2 by the Yankees. The Yankees pitcher kept us on our toes - holding us to just two runs in the first 4 innings - both of those runs brought in by a single by Holden that went up the middle. The Tigers added some more runs in the 5th and stayed out in front for the rest of the night - as they prevailed 7-4. Thankfully - we get a much needed rest - and will get the rest of the week off.
On deck for the Hall household ... PRIDE awards for the best in hospitality in Shreveport Bossier is Thursday - where I have five of my team nominated. Friday night is the Employee Crawfish Boil - so I'll be hanging out at work for the night! Saturday - Mallory is playing with The Heat again - so she will be busy both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday - Holden has a practice and I have an "old-man" baseball scrimmage. Monday - Holden has a game, and Mallory has the Airline Softball Banquet - (Jules had the date wrong - so you'll have to wait until next week to hear what awards Mallory won .... and I can tell you now - there is one I am already proud of - but you all will have to wait until the next blog!) Always busy here in Shreveport/Bossier! Next week might even include pictures from the banquet!
The second pool game was against a team called Diamond Dust. Our girls played well - but came up just a little short and lost 6-5. Mallory got a little action on defense - again - went 0-1 with a walk ... and a stolen base (showing off her wheels!)
The first bracket game was against a team called the Louisiana Angels - a nemesis of the Lady Vikings that I coached for the past few years. The play a lot of "small ball" - using bunts and aggressive baserunning to get their runs. My teams in the past were better prepared for this type of team - but this team had some infielders playing in positions they weren't used to - and we committed a bunch of errors (6 to be exact). It's pretty tough to come back when you make that many mistakes. We ended up losing 6-1. Mallory was part of a spectacular double play ... a bunt was fielded by the pitcher - Mal was a little late getting to the bag - and the pitcher threw it high and to the right of the bag. Mal caught the ball while backpeddling over the bag - and fired home at the baserunner trying to score. The throw was dead on - and the runner was tagged out by the catcher. That was the only highlight for our team ... Mal did get on base with a walk - and stole a base ... so identical stat line as the other games. (0-1, BB, SB).
Unfortunately, that ended our portion of the weekend in softball - as the next game was on Sunday afternoon - and Mallory had a scheduled shift at the Tennis Center and couldn't play the next day. The tournament was originally scheduled to be a one day tournament - but turned into a two day tournament at the last minute.
Holden had two games this week - and both happened to be against the Yankees. Monday's game was one of the worst games we have played. Unfortunately - Holden was the starting pitcher. The first inning the Yankees scored 3 runs on Holden - Holden allowed a couple of costly walks in the inning - but only after we made 3 errors in the inning. This seemed to be the story of the day for our team. Holden ended up pitching 2 innings giving up 5 runs - all unearned because of errors. With the game being close - we turned over catching duties to Holden. After the two innings we were tied 5-5. Holden hit a 2 RBI single for his first at bat - with a shot between the LF and CF. The Tigers continued to boot the ball around - and we kept giving the Yankees a chance to win the game. Even though we had 7 errors in the game and numerous baserunning errors and missed signals - the Yankees had 8 - and allowed us to take the win home 10-8. Holden ended up 1-2 - the 2nd at bat was a long fly ball caught by the centerfielder.
The 2nd game of the week was the same result - but a much better performance. Our other catcher came back and caught a couple of innings - allowing Holden to get a break and play a little Shortstop. This time - both teams played sharper on defense with only 1 error by the Tigers and only 2 by the Yankees. The Yankees pitcher kept us on our toes - holding us to just two runs in the first 4 innings - both of those runs brought in by a single by Holden that went up the middle. The Tigers added some more runs in the 5th and stayed out in front for the rest of the night - as they prevailed 7-4. Thankfully - we get a much needed rest - and will get the rest of the week off.
On deck for the Hall household ... PRIDE awards for the best in hospitality in Shreveport Bossier is Thursday - where I have five of my team nominated. Friday night is the Employee Crawfish Boil - so I'll be hanging out at work for the night! Saturday - Mallory is playing with The Heat again - so she will be busy both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday - Holden has a practice and I have an "old-man" baseball scrimmage. Monday - Holden has a game, and Mallory has the Airline Softball Banquet - (Jules had the date wrong - so you'll have to wait until next week to hear what awards Mallory won .... and I can tell you now - there is one I am already proud of - but you all will have to wait until the next blog!) Always busy here in Shreveport/Bossier! Next week might even include pictures from the banquet!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Another Week of Baseball - 3 Great Games - 1 Great Outcome ...
OK - I know I said I was going to post after each game - but .... here we are at the end of the week - and I have a lot of catching up to do.
Monday brought a really cold, misty game against the vaunted Astros ... for some reason - this team is or Achilles heel - but we thought we would have a better chance tonight. We got one of our players from last year back - as his high school season just finished - and he started the game in the mound ... but control issues from the start and some key hitting from the Astros (and what disastrous inning wouldn't be complete without an error as well) - and we were down 4-1 after one inning. Holden did not have a good first at bat - and went down swinging. We switched pitchers and stopped the bleeding playing good defense and had some solid pitching. Holden was catching the entire game (starting to become the same story over and over). However, we could not get any hits. Going into the top of the last inning - we were down 6-1. We rallied back and got 3 runs - but fell just a little short losing 6-4. Holden had one more at bat during the game and drew a walk. He was on deck when the game ended - would have been fun if he had a shot to hit with the game on the line.
Tuesday, we played the Bucs - similar crappy weather - just no rain. We've beaten this team twice before, so we were hoping to jump out to a lead and give a chance to get Holden on the mound. Another less than stellar day at the plate for our team - and another slow start. The good thing was our pitching was on - and we had a low scoring start to the game. The Tigers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead - Holden hit a weak grounder the first time up (ugh). After a few scoreless innings, the Tigers gave up 3 runs in the 4th inning and trailed 3-2. The Tigers picked up two runs in the bottom of the 4th and two more in the bottom of the 5th. The Tigers held the Bucs scoreless the rest of the way and won 6-3. Holden got a single and but didn't score (and ended up being called out on a play that he was obstructed - terrible call by the ump) and flew out to the Left Fielder in his other two at bats - and unfortunately - because it was a tight game - he had to catch the entire game.
Holden was not happy with his hitting performance - so on Wednesday - he and I went to the field for some live hitting practice at the field... I can assure you that my arm will take some time to recover! But - I think we got some things worked out. Also had a good throwing session with Holden - and he got to work on some new form with his fastball and slider.
Today (Thursday) - brought us the hated Diamond Kings. This team has some of our rivals back from little league days - and they came ready to play. We started off with a 2-0 lead in the first inning - as Holden had an RBI single with a nice hit through the infield. The score remained 2-0 for the next two innings - and the bottom of the third inning the Diamond Kings struck back with a string of errors by one of our outfielders. After three innings, we trailed 3-2. The top of the 4th we picked up two more runs, and added another in the 5th. Holden hit a ground ball to the left side in the 5th that should have scored a run - but was called out on a brutal call by the umpire. The top of the 5th we added one more to take the lead 5-3. The top of the 6th we had another runner called out by the umpire who was out of position - this also cost us a run - as Holden CRUSHED a ball over the left fielders head that bounced to the fence - and ended up with a stand up double - but was stranded on base. The bottom of the 6th came and another error and another bad call ... and unfortunately - the Diamond Kings mounted a two out rally and beat us 6-5. It was a good game - but would have been nicer if we would have come out winners. Granted - we had some bad calls in this game (as one of the umps was the same one we had against the Bucs) - but the team made too many mistakes to win against a team of the Diamond Kings caliber. They should have never been close enough to make calls like the ones we had effect the outcome of the game.
At least Holden ended the week making solid contact with the ball - and played every inning of every game. That is the one advantage of being the only experienced catcher. Next week - we hope to get him out from behind the plate and maybe on the mound ... that game is Monday - and unfortunately - I will not be there to give you the play by play ... Mallory's end of year softball banquet is that night ... so I'm sure I'll have more to report. The weekend has a tournament for Mallory - and some days off for Holden. Until the next post ....
Monday brought a really cold, misty game against the vaunted Astros ... for some reason - this team is or Achilles heel - but we thought we would have a better chance tonight. We got one of our players from last year back - as his high school season just finished - and he started the game in the mound ... but control issues from the start and some key hitting from the Astros (and what disastrous inning wouldn't be complete without an error as well) - and we were down 4-1 after one inning. Holden did not have a good first at bat - and went down swinging. We switched pitchers and stopped the bleeding playing good defense and had some solid pitching. Holden was catching the entire game (starting to become the same story over and over). However, we could not get any hits. Going into the top of the last inning - we were down 6-1. We rallied back and got 3 runs - but fell just a little short losing 6-4. Holden had one more at bat during the game and drew a walk. He was on deck when the game ended - would have been fun if he had a shot to hit with the game on the line.
Tuesday, we played the Bucs - similar crappy weather - just no rain. We've beaten this team twice before, so we were hoping to jump out to a lead and give a chance to get Holden on the mound. Another less than stellar day at the plate for our team - and another slow start. The good thing was our pitching was on - and we had a low scoring start to the game. The Tigers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead - Holden hit a weak grounder the first time up (ugh). After a few scoreless innings, the Tigers gave up 3 runs in the 4th inning and trailed 3-2. The Tigers picked up two runs in the bottom of the 4th and two more in the bottom of the 5th. The Tigers held the Bucs scoreless the rest of the way and won 6-3. Holden got a single and but didn't score (and ended up being called out on a play that he was obstructed - terrible call by the ump) and flew out to the Left Fielder in his other two at bats - and unfortunately - because it was a tight game - he had to catch the entire game.
Holden was not happy with his hitting performance - so on Wednesday - he and I went to the field for some live hitting practice at the field... I can assure you that my arm will take some time to recover! But - I think we got some things worked out. Also had a good throwing session with Holden - and he got to work on some new form with his fastball and slider.
Today (Thursday) - brought us the hated Diamond Kings. This team has some of our rivals back from little league days - and they came ready to play. We started off with a 2-0 lead in the first inning - as Holden had an RBI single with a nice hit through the infield. The score remained 2-0 for the next two innings - and the bottom of the third inning the Diamond Kings struck back with a string of errors by one of our outfielders. After three innings, we trailed 3-2. The top of the 4th we picked up two more runs, and added another in the 5th. Holden hit a ground ball to the left side in the 5th that should have scored a run - but was called out on a brutal call by the umpire. The top of the 5th we added one more to take the lead 5-3. The top of the 6th we had another runner called out by the umpire who was out of position - this also cost us a run - as Holden CRUSHED a ball over the left fielders head that bounced to the fence - and ended up with a stand up double - but was stranded on base. The bottom of the 6th came and another error and another bad call ... and unfortunately - the Diamond Kings mounted a two out rally and beat us 6-5. It was a good game - but would have been nicer if we would have come out winners. Granted - we had some bad calls in this game (as one of the umps was the same one we had against the Bucs) - but the team made too many mistakes to win against a team of the Diamond Kings caliber. They should have never been close enough to make calls like the ones we had effect the outcome of the game.
At least Holden ended the week making solid contact with the ball - and played every inning of every game. That is the one advantage of being the only experienced catcher. Next week - we hope to get him out from behind the plate and maybe on the mound ... that game is Monday - and unfortunately - I will not be there to give you the play by play ... Mallory's end of year softball banquet is that night ... so I'm sure I'll have more to report. The weekend has a tournament for Mallory - and some days off for Holden. Until the next post ....
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