My middle school girls to get a break from hot weather...

The final week for my middle school girls softball team begins on Monday with a practice day, followed on Wednesday with our final regular season game and then ending on Saturday with an early morning, four-team tournament to decide the league champion for 2011. It has been a long, hot spring for the girls. The girls have battled through 90-degree plus heat almost every day since the season got underway, back on March 28. We may finally get a break with the weather conditions next week as the temperatures are expected to drop into the mid 80s and we hope the winds will subside, giving us a break as well. Our practices and our games have been accompanied by wind gusts of 25 to 40 miles an hour. Pop ups that start out over second base, end up in foul territory. It is like living in a dust bowl with just one day of rain over the course of the season. Our field looks like the makings of a another Death Valley. Mini dust devils, swirling from third base to first base are an everyday occurrence. I go home everyday looking like I just came off a Mel Gibson movie set (I'm thinking of the late-70s flick, Mad Max). It's been a fun season and it would be nice to do well in the tourney and bring home a second trophy for the middle school. We'll need a lot to go our way to get it done, including some timely hitting, some smart base running, maybe a break or two on some calls from the men in blue. These kids are 11 thru 13, so anything can happen on any given day. Let's hope we have something to cheer about on the final bus ride home of the season on Saturday afternoon.