We have been witnesses to one of baseball’s first – a quadruple play. Yep, we saw four outs in one play. The bases were loaded and the batter hit the ball to the infield. He was thrown out at first and then the runner from third was tagged out on his way to home plate. But the runners kept coming and each one was tagged out on his/her way to home plate - only a play that you’d see in a T-Ball game with 3,4,& 5 year olds. It was hilarious!!!
As you can tell, we attended Catia’s second T-Ball game. Their are ten kids on a team and each child gets a turn at bat. Then that team takes the field while the other team comes to bat. Once the last batter hits, all the runners just keep running home, often with little interference because the ball handling leaves a whole lot to be desired.
Each team gets to bat twice and that’s the game; it takes close to an hour which is about fifty-six minutes longer than the average player’s attention span. You get to see a kid sitting in the outfield playing in the dirt while another one is watching a bird fly over head as the ball goes rolling by. What a hoot!!
Being only the second game that most of them have ever played, they are beginning to get the concepts down pretty well. They know that you back one another up so that if the ball gets past the first player, the second player attempts to field it. However, it often gets past the second player as well with half the team chasing the ball.
They know that once you get the ball, you throw it to first base (or at least in that direction – another play requiring backup). Often the runner rounds third before the ball has been fielded and eventually retrieved by the first baseman (boy/girl).
One boy had a better strategy, he hit the ball and to avoid an out at first he just cut across the pitcher’s mound making his way to second base – is that an infield double? Anyway, it’s absolutely a blast watching these kids play ball and definitely adds to the enjoyment of our day. After all, it’s all about grand kids and what better way to spend time with them then watching them play sports!!
So cute! Mike used to coach T-ball when Stephen played and I remember one time he had to pick up one of the players in the outfield and carry him back to the dugout. He picked him up sitting indian style writing in the sand and he stayed in that position all the way back to the dugout.
ReplyDeleteIt was just adorable. I also love it when they hit the ball and just start running in any direction.
What fun and what great memories!! Glad you all got to share in them. :)
Mike & Gerri