Warning: Proud Parent Alert

[Ksyrup]

I've been posting about my daughter's softball exploits in the dynasty forum, but we had such an amazing day today and I'm so damn proud/stoked right now, I wanted to share it here.

Caitlin's in 6th grade playing on the middle school team. She rarely gets to play in the "A" games, which are mainly 8th graders and a couple of 7th graders. Our team won the conference regular season championship, and today was the conference tournament championship. As 1st seed, we had a bye, so our first game was this morning. We got down 4-0 in the 1st but battled back and in the 3rd were down 4-3, bases loaded, and they pinch-hit with Caitlin. She lined a 2-run single into RF to give us the lead. We ended up putting 11 runs on the board that inning and coasted to a 12-5 win.

Next game, we played our biggest rival and 2nd best team in conference. We've played them 4 times this year, each winning 2. We've lost 1 other game all season. We get up quick 5-2, they come back to lead 6-5, we tie it at 6, and it goes to extra innings. They score 2, but in the bottom of the 6th, we score 3 to win 9-8. That puts us in the championship game.

...and, of course, we have to play our rival again. They just came off beating a team and are rolling, and they absolutely tattoo our 2 best pitchers for 10 runs in 2 innings. Since it's double elimination, if we lose we play a rematch. It's 10-2 in the top of the 3rd and we know we're going to lose, so they bring in Caitlin to pitch the final 3 innings and save the arms. And she absolutely shuts them down - 3 innings, 2 hits, no walks, 3 strikeouts. She's so good, they decide to start her in the championship rematch.

Second game (which started at 11:15), we bat first and score 7 on them. Caitlin pitches great again, we add 4 in the 3rd and 1 in the 4th, and we win 12-1. Caitlin pitches 4 innings, gives up 5 hits, no walks and 4 strikeouts.

So we won the conference championship, and Caitlin was named to the All-Tournament team as a 6th grader. I'm like half so stoked I don't think I'm going to be able to go to sleep, and half typing this with tears in my eyes. It's just been an unbelievable day. Certainly something she'll never forget.

[lighthousekeeper]

awesome!

[DaddyTorgo]

awww

[Izulde]

Terrific work! You certainly deserve to be proud.

[StLee]

Be very proud for her, and tell her congratulations!

[BYU 14]

Awesome congrats Caitlin!

[Dutch]

Awesome, great job!

[terpkristin]

Wow, awesome.

Congrats Caitlin!!

/tk

[CleBrownsfan]

Very cool!! You're right about not forgetting that moment. Our team went to state a couple times (won it once) and it's something I will never forget.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I umpired fast pitch softball for 11 years when I was younger. Did competitive tournaments for the last 8 years or so. Always was impressed at the level of play with some of the teams.

Congrats on the accomplishments.

[Ksyrup]

Just got up lol.

As a capper to the weekend, her travel team is going to the UK women's softball game today and gets to go out on the field with the team.

[Swaggs]

Very cool -- congrats!

[Dodgerchick]

Freaking awesome, WTG Caitlin!!!!

[Mac Howard]

My daughter Georgie, just turned 16 last week, plays sweeper in her school soccer team. They just won the league title with a 4-0 thrashing of the second placed team and she was voted MVP for the last three games on the trot.

So there!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Outstanding

[FrogMan]

what a great story, you have reasons to be proud.

If I may piggyback on this thread, both my sons brought back first places with their weapons form in a karate competition yesterday. Not to say I was not proud of my oldest son, but it was not his first trophy. My youngest, only 7, is the one who made me proudest yesterday. He delivered a crazy performance of a bo form, better than he'd ever done it since starting the bo in last September. Better than what he'd done in the last couple weeks, where he's practiced a lot. I didn't not get to see it live as I was officiating but when I saw it on tape later on, my eyes were in tears, to me, it felt that good.

FM

[MizzouRah]

Be damn proud of her, that's awesome!!!

My oldest made the JV soccer team this year as a freshman and she's actually played a few varsity games, it's quite a feeling seeing her be talked about amoungst coaches.

[Ksyrup]

Thanks for all the comments guys. And congrats to the others with kids doing great things!

This coming weekend should be interesting. We're playing in the state championship tournament, so I'll be curious to see what role, if any, Caitlin plays beyond the normal. As with most kids sports (and I'm on record as saying that girls softball could make for an amazing reality show), there is a ton of drama bubbling under the surface of the middle school team, with a bunch of parents not happy with the way some of the 8th graders (and their parents) carry themselves off and on the field. As great as Saturday night was for us as Caitlin's parents, about half of the other parents were secretly happy (as they told me later) about the way it went down because of who WASN'T on the mound taking the credit for everything. I've tried to steer clear of most of it, but it's definitely out there.

So anyway, there are clear expectations for who will be playing/pitching, and I don't expect that to change overnight. But at least I feel confident that if they need someone else, Caitlin will be first up. And who knows, the coach might surprise everyone and make Caitlin a bigger factor from the start.

Like I said...should be interesting!

[Flasch186]

video.

[Ksyrup]

Actually, video does exist, and thanks for reminding me. Our coaching staff sets up a small camera on a tripod behind home plate for every game so the girls can watch their swings after the game. I need to get ahold of the guy who has that and see if he'll put it on a thumb drive for me.

[Ksyrup]

He forgot to start the video until the 2nd inning, but he got everything after that. He's going to bring me a copy at the next practice. Cool!

[Ksyrup]

Not the greatest video, but better than nothing. Last out of the game.

http://

[Ksyrup]

I've been documenting my daughter's softball career the past couple of seasons in the dynasty forum, but I had to dig this thread up to post about tonight. We're playing a middle school tournament without our 8th graders, who are on a class trip to Chicago. So we've got just 12 or 13 6th and 7th graders to play this weekend.

First game, we won pretty easily 7-0 against an overmatched team we had run ruled earlier in the season. Caitlin hit a double and single.

Second game, we played a really good team that was made up of half a 14U team. The entire team was huge and started 7 8th graders. Caitlin gave up 3 runs in the 1st inning, a combination of good hitting and 6th graders in the OF, but we came back pretty strong to take a 5-3 lead into the 4th inning.

We scored 1 to make it 6-3, and with 2 on and 1 out, Caitlin came up and jacked her first out of the park HR to RF. It was an incredible moment, one I will never forget. She absolutely crushed it, about 210 feet. The entire stands erupted, and most of her teammates from her travel team got to see it because their middle school game had just ended on the field next to us. We were able to find the ball and she got to keep it. It took her a few pitches to settle down, but she finished out the game in the top of the 5th and we won 9-3.

I'll be going to sleep with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face tonight!

[spleen1015]

Very awesome!! Grats to Caitlin.

I am looking forward to these moments with my own daughter.

[Izulde]

Wicked awesome.

[tarcone]

Sweet. The last out of the video. That girl looks great getting into her stance. But that swing was awful.

Congrats to your daughter. Those are great memories for sure.

If you dont mind me asking, where do you live that they play MS softball?

[Ksyrup]

Kentucky

[BYU 14]

Awesome congrats to Caitlin, a very proud moment for sure!!

Did you get it on video??

[MrBug708]

Get her ready for UCLA

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Awesome congrats to Caitlin, a very proud moment for sure!!

Did you get it on video??

No unfortunately not. I'm not a big video person at all. We have a parent who videos all of our travel team games but not middle school.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Get her ready for UCLA

One of the things I've discussed in the dynasty thread is that our travel team is seriously considering pulling out of school ball altogether and playing nothing but travel ball so we can play the serious tournaments, hopefully do well and get scouted by the big D1 programs. So who knows... although I'd rather her stay on the east coast or in the south so we could attend more games in person.

[tarcone]

Select softball is huge in this area. And by huge, I mean GINORMOUS.

The girls who play select start practicing in January and start playing in March. They will play all Summer, traveling as far away as Florida. Then when Summer ends, if the girls are not in HS, they play Fall Ball. They take a couple months off and then start it again.

[Matthean]

Both of my oldest brother's kids play on traveling teams. My nephew last year was throwing 62 mph pitches at the age of ten. He has a guy coaching him who is selective in who he takes on, but anybody who he has coached played ball at the college level.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Select softball is huge in this area. And by huge, I mean GINORMOUS.

The girls who play select start practicing in January and start playing in March. They will play all Summer, traveling as far away as Florida. Then when Summer ends, if the girls are not in HS, they play Fall Ball. They take a couple months off and then start it again.

We go year round. As far as tournaments, we play until late October, maybe 1 or 2 indoor tournaments at the beginning of the next year, then school ball picks up in February. During fall/winter, we practice at least twice a week and do conditioning/hitting the other days. And of course, pitch 2-3 times a week and take lessons for that, too. The only break they really get is during Christmas. We're proposing doing away with school ball and playing tournaments in the south during February-April, then go into our normal summer schedule - but bigger. So we'll see how it goes.

[Ksyrup]

Damn, she did it again! This time at home, just left of dead center off a 14u pitcher. The fence is more than 6 feet high so assuming it's 200 feet my guess is this one went 220-25ish. Just unbelievable.

[FrogMan]

funny this thread just got bumped. Had quite the proud parent weekend myself. Our oldest son tested sufccesfully to receive is Nidan, i.e. second degree black belt, on Saturday and played drums in a show on Sunday evening. He played Paradise City and to me, he did a most excellent job.

Here's the video I filmed. Now remember these are mostly kids, well teenagers, and apart from taking lessons from the same music school, they are not a real band together. They'd met a total of three times since January after each learning their parts independantly.

tried to embed but it wouldn't work, here's a link to it...
http://youtu.be/posym98eSbQ

FM

[CleBrownsfan]

back back back - GONE!!!

Awesome Ksyrup!

[CleBrownsfan]

FM - not a bad little band your son is in.

[Ksyrup]

State tournament champs!!! As badly as this team has underachieved this year, I really can't believe they won state.

Man, yesterday would have made a great TV show with all the plots and subplots that played out. But here are the highlights:

The 2 best middle school teams in this area are ours and one from a neighboring county. Both teams are coached by Caitlin's travel team coaches. Three travel girls play on the other county middle school team and 5 play on our team.

There are also two 6th graders on the other county middle school team who are phenomenal. Probably can play high school ball right now (although with the general quality of middle school ball around here, that's not saying much). Anyway, one's a pitcher and one's a catcher. We need depth at both positions and were hoping to put together a "super power" that can challenge on a coastal/national level. They both play on a decent team that's never going to be more than just a vehicle for them to be the stars. We offered them spots on our team - understanding that they would come in and take playing time, but wanting to build a great team - and after a bunch of discussion, they turned it down. The catcher's parents wanted to do it, but they are lifelong friends and joined at the hip with the pitcher, so when her parents said no, that was it. Basically, he's all about his daughter being the star and not wanting to share the spotlight (or mound time).

So this year, we've lost to them 4 out of 5 games, including both the 7th and 8th grade championship games this past Thursday. Caitlin's pitched well in 3 of the games, but lost to this girl. We just can't hit her. Between losing directly to her and them declining to play with us, it's become personal for Caitlin (and most of us parents).

So yesterday was the state championship tournament. The pools were rigged to put all the good teams in one pool and the bad ones in the other, to help the bad ones advance (the tournament director is the sister of one of the bad teams' coaches - go figure). First game, we came out terrible and were down 7-1 after an inning. Tied it up in the 3rd, then went to extra innings and gave up 4 in the 6th to lose 11-7. Caitlin didn't pitch, and didn't hit very well either.

So we start looking at the brackets and realized that if things play out right, it would be better to come out of our bracket as the 4 seed rather than one of the top 3 seeds. If we're 4 and our coach's team is the 1 seed, we wouldn't see them until the championship game. Otherwise, we'd have to face the girl that owns us early in the elimination bracket. So we literally tanked the next pool game. We pulled most of our starters, played 6th graders, bunted with 2 strikes, etc. And lost 4-2. That put us in the right side of the bracket, away from the better teams.

Funny thing is, we weren't the only team that recognized it. So basically pool play was a race to the bottom - everyone trying to lose on purpose. Another team pulled everyone and played 6th graders, having them bunt every time up, and they run-ruled the team they were trying to lose to because that team couldn't field bunts and they reached base 20 times on bunts (either hit or error). It was like that South Park episode where all the kids are trying to lose so they don't waste a summer playing baseball. The tournament director really mucked things up by rigging the pools because all of the good teams would rather have played the best teams coming out of the weak pool and did what they could to get there.

We get to the elimination bracket and Caitlin pitched the 1st 3 shutout innings of an easy win - 8-1 I think it was. Next game we played the team that beat us to start the day, and Caitlin pitched again. I knew warming her up that she had dominant stuff, and she did. But in the 1st inning, just like the 1st game, we blew up defensively. They had 2 bunts, 2 errors, and got 3 runs without putting a ball out of the infield. After that, Caitlin just mowed them down. We were down 3-1 into the bottom of the 5th (last) inning when we started to rally. We got 1 run to cut it to 3-2, then Caitlin came up with the bases loaded and 1 out and hit a single through the SS to win it 4-3. That put us into the championship game against our coach's team.

Meanwhile, his team used only the one pitcher all day. By the end of the day (including our game), she had pitched 19-20 innings. During their semifinal game, it started raining. Luckily, it never poured, but it was a steady rain for the rest of the night.

In the championship game, we gave up a cheap run in the 3rd thanks to some bad OF defense (nice hit, but a horrible angle by the CF let a ball go all the way to the wall to score the 1st run). We also threw 2 out at the plate, though. We were down 1-0 into the bottom of the 4th when the other girl started to tire. We finally got to her, scoring 5 including a solid shot into right-center for Caitlin. Top 5, and Caitlin's getting tired now, going into her 13th inning pitched in about 5 hours, 10 straight with only a 10 minute break between games. They quickly score 1, then Caitlin gets an out, then another solid hit and an overthrow scores 2 to make it 5-4, runner on with 1 out. And the two girls we wanted to pick up, the pitcher and catcher, next up. Caitlin got the pitcher to ground out to 3B and with the tying run at 2nd, got the catcher to line softly to SS and that was it.

Couldn't have scripted a better or more fitting end to the season (and likely Caitlin's middle school career, because I'm fairly certain we won't be playing school ball again).

[spleen1015]

Grats to Caitlin and her team!

[tarcone]

I hope the other pitchers parents see what happens when a team only has one pitcher. And realizes that a championship caliber team makes more stars then a middling team with one player.

Congrats to your daughter. That will be a life long memory. Good for her.

[Ksyrup]

Forgot to mention that the coolest part for the girls was the bus got a police escort and 20-something car processional through town back to the school once we hit the county line. One of the girls' dads is a local police officer.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Forgot to mention that the coolest part for the girls was the bus got a police escort and 20-something car processional through town back to the school once we hit the county line. One of the girls' dads is a local police officer.

That's great, definitely a top memory here. Congrats to Caitlin!

[MizzouRah]

Congratulations!