Coast Baseball 12u Game Recap

Wow, what a game on Saturday! I have known all along that we were capable of this type of game, and it finally came to fruition.

Our six-run first inning set the tempo for the game, and our seven-run second inning was a great answer to the opposing team’s two-run first inning. It is always important to punch right back after the opposing team posts a multi-run inning to preventing the opposing team from gaining any momentum.

Incredibly, we only had two hits in the first inning, yet we scored six runs? How you might ask? Simply put: discipline. The opposing pitchers were not giving our hitters anything to hit. Unlike previous games where we got ourselves out by being too anxious early in the count and chasing pitches out of the zone, we did not go after such pitched this time. Indeed, we drew five walks, and had a hit batter in the first inning. JD added a nice single after Brandon led off the game with a walk, and Alex absolutely crushed a 2-0 fastball in the gap for a grand slam. That’s hitting right there. Spitting on the pitcher’s tough pitches, getting into a good hitters count, and then sitting on that fastball down the middle. As hitters climb through the ranks and face better competition, the less good pitches they see per at-bat. Thus, it is important to connect on good pitches when they are thrown and that is exactly what we did. We were not taking hesitant swings; we were ready to hit each and every pitch. We knew what we wanted, and when we got it, we took an aggressive swing and let the chips fall where they may. And I think we all saw the results of our aggressive, yet selective approach.

Following a big offensive inning, it is important to carry that momentum out onto the field and record outs quickly to get the offense back up. I thought Shea did an excellent job of that in the bottom of the first inning.

Though this was an amazing game, not every game is going to be like this. Baseball is a game of failure. In one game, a certain player may be the hero and the very next game it may look like that same player is swinging the bat for the very first time. That’s just baseball. The sooner your son realizes that and is able to learn from his previous at-bats and any mistakes made, and move on, the better he will be in the future. This game is a mental grind, and this approach will enable him to not dwell on the past, and instead, focus on the adjustments that need to be made to make him successful in the future. You know why professionals are so good? They make adjustments pitch-to-pitch. Not at-bat-to-at-bat, or game-to-game. There are a ton of players that can hit the ball 400 feet, or throw 94 mph, trust me. But it is not just about a player's physical tools. Sure, that helps a player's evaluation at the amateur level. But I'm looking at it from a bigger picture. Aside from his physical tools, scouts are asking: What is his physical make-up? What is his mental make-up? How will he deal with failure? What type of approach does he have on both offense and defense?

We have taken huge strides in both individual and team skills, and I was very pleased with the boys’ overall play. Out of the five innings on Saturday, I thought four innings were very well executed innings from an offensive and defensive standpoint. The three-run 4th inning is the one I counted as the not-so-good inning. I do not necessarily think it was a bad inning, as the opposing team was just finding holes. JD was grinding out the inning, and I think he was just trying to do too much and started rushing a bit. He is a great pitcher and extremely competitive, but what will help him and all of our players is to just slow the game down by simply taking the time to breathe before each pitch. Watch the pros; they do it every time.

After the huge first inning, JD got things started in the second inning with a nice line drive triple. Our new player Max followed him with a four-pitch walk before Cyrus’s homerun! We always talk to the boys about not giving up, playing hard, and remembering that what is important is not what happened, but how you react to it. This was a great example of moving on from a previous unproductive at-bat. After striking out his first at bat (it happens), Cyrus responded in a big way by absolutely smashing a fastball over the left fielder’s head for a three-run homerun. That ball may still be going! Alex and Shea then followed with quality at-bats of their own, working back-to-back walks. Nick then added a well-placed double that knocked in two runs. Dom came up and worked a walk of his own to load the bases for Preston who then crushed a three-run triple over the left fielder’s head.

After scoring 13 runs in the first two innings, our bats went a little quiet I guess you could say. Alex had a nice RBI-single on a two-strike pitch with a runner at third. Spencer got himself into a great 2-0 hitters’ count, and drove in a run on a line drive to left field. Preston had another great at-bat, working the count to 3-2 before hitting a hard groundball single up the middle.

It was a great day for our offense, and our pitching and defense were not too shabby either. JD made a couple nice plays at short, and caught a comebacker in the last inning and got the runner at second in a pickle before tagging him out. That was a great heads-up play to catch the ball and then check the runner at second before throwing it to first base. I cannot say enough about Shea’s pitching performance on Saturday. He was attacking their hitters with his live fastball, and was giving his defense opportunities to make plays behind him. He was throwing strikes, and working ahead of their hitters which is so important at any level in baseball.

At the higher levels, it is not just about who throws the hardest. Any time someone asks me who was the toughest pitcher I faced, I always go right to the guys who did not necessarily throw the hardest, but who knew how to pitch. Those pitchers created movement and changed speeds, keeping me off balance while hitting their spots. A 94 MPH fastball down the middle is much easier to hit than a well located 89-90 MPH fastball that has some run or cut to it.

I was also particularly pleased with our baserunning. We talk a lot about doing the little things right, and getting a good lead and taking a good secondary lead are important, yet often overlooked, fundamentals of the game. A good lead allows the base runner to be the best possible position to steal, advance on a ball put in play or on a ball in the dirt. We had several of those situations come up Saturday in which we were successful.

I want to thank you all for your continued support the entire summer and fall baseball seasons. The team has worked extremely hard, and I have seen tremendous improvement in each and every player. I look forward to finishing the season strong and continuing to improve their overall skills.