It's Life......Everybody Poops: Go Hammerheads!

Scrimmage as it is defined in the Webster's Dictionary is a rough-and-tumble fight; tussle; confused struggle. Last night's scrimmage between the Hammerheads and the Angels was exactly that....a confused struggle.

The coaches of both teams had met with each other earlier in the week and agreed that a scrimmage game would be a great idea to have so that the kids could get a feel for what playing an actual game would be like. So with all parties involved in agreement we were scheduled to play for the first time last night at 6pm.

To give you a little background and insight into what was happening the Angels are a very well established and competitive team within the Mesquite Baseball League. We'd heard rumours during practice about how competitive this team really was and how strict their coaches were and let me tell you those rumours were not far off. Our team on the other hand is well for a lack of a better term, inexperienced and a little unorganized. Most of our kids are playing for the first time and our coaches believe that the game is for the kids and about having fun. They don't believe in putting pressure on the kids to win and really try to play to the child's best qualities.

So when we arrived on the field for our scrimmage the two teams involved were like night and day. There the Angels stood on one side of the baseball diamond in complete uniform running practice drills of batting, catching and throwing. On the other side of the diamond stood our team with our players outfitted in black baseball pants with any blue shirt they had available at home (we haven't gotten our uniforms yet) and they were lined up on the field catching balls being ground hit to them by the coach. You can say it was almost like looking at a scene from the Bad News Bears. All we were missing was Billy Bob Thornton and an ice chest full of beer.

With both teams stretched out and warmed up they were ready to start. The Angels took to the field first and The Hammerheads were up to bat. Our kids were doing great. They were hitting the ball and getting on base and everyone was starting to relax. With a run in and two outs it was now Alyssa's turn to bat. Coach Harley took her out to the plate and helped her set up and when she was ready and the pitcher had "thrown" the pitch she hit her first game ball. All in one motion she hit the ball and threw the bat and after a bit of navigating around the coach she was headed for first base. As she reached first base and the ball was overthrown she was quickly heading off for second while another of our runners scored at home plate. Rounding second with the ball still in play Alyssa began to run for third but in the confusion of everything didn't see the ball coming and unfortunately was touched by the Angels third baseman for an out. All in all though it was an exciting play and she was congratulated by the coaches for a job well done.

With three outs it was now our turn to take the field and Coach decided to put Alyssa in as pitcher. She'd practiced in this position Wednesday night and loved it so being asked to be pitcher for the game really excited her. With our kids on the field and the Angels ready at bat the coach looked over at Alyssa and told her to go ahead and "pitch" the ball. At which point Alyssa looked at him in confusion since she wasn't taught or told that she would have to pretend to pitch to the batter once the ball was placed on the tee. After a few more instructions from the coach she finally got it and "pitched". The kid up to bat took a swing and holy crap this kid can hit! That ball rocketed off of the tee and shot across the field like a comet! And not only could this kid hit but their entire team. It was crazy! Our poor kids didn't know what was happening. Balls were flying at them from the sky, kids were running the bases and scoring and coaches were yelling instructions from all sides of the field. Luckily for us the league has a rule that if one team pulls ahead of another team by so many points the inning is finished and the teams swap field position.

By the end of the game The Hammerheads managed to score two or three runs and they did get one of the Angels' players out. The Angels on the other hand were able to walk away with about 15 runs and multiple outs against our team. Afterwards the coaches congratulated our kids on a job well done and made sure to tell each kid individually how well they'd performed. The kids on the other hand were just excited to have played a game and were all looking forward to their dinners that were promised to them by their parents.

All in all it was an unfair lineup between out teams but I believe that for us it was very educational. The players now know what to expect in a game, the coaches know what they need to focus on with the players, and the parents....well we know that our kids are out there to have fun.

On another note, our coaches have been able to feel out our players and have decided on their positions. Alyssa is now the pitcher for the team! Next up on the team's agenda is practice on Wednesday evening, getting our raffle tickets sold, and getting our uniforms.