"Don't send 'em, Coach!"

My middle school girls fast-pitch softball team bowed out of the season-ending tournament today, losing 11-9. Down 11-3 midway through the game, the girls fought back and had the tying runs on base with less than two outs in our final at bat. I sent two runners home and both were tagged out. The girls battled, despite the fact we were missing three starters -- one out with a leg injury and two others off playing club ball. Sure could have used them. Oh well, there's always next year. Maybe there's a next year...we'll have to wait and see if middle school softball will be around next spring.

Softball Update: Coaching record after two seasons: Won 10, Lost 8. Hey, I'm still over .500. I'll take it!

"Are you coming back, Coach?"

It was an innocent question: "Are you coming back, Coach?" The inquiry coming from a returning fast-pitch softball player for next season, following our final, regular-season middle school game of the year yesterday -- an 11-2 loss to the defending league champions. I smiled at the 7th-grader, put my arm around her and told her I thought I'd be back. With the current climate (the financial one, that is), involving middle school sports in the city of Tucson and its surrounding areas, nobody knows for sure if there will be such a thing in the future. It looks like the middle school fields -- in and around the city -- could become parking lots in the years to come, or maybe the fields will eventually be leased out to the many Club Teams, which are popping up around town, giving the parents whom can afford such an undertaking an option for their young one to participate in sports like baseball, softball, track and field, and soccer. Where does that leave the middle school player -- and the parent who cannot afford the Club Scene? No where, I guess. What a shame.

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.

American Flag proudly visible at middle school baseball game

The echoes from the cheering of players and fans, which normally accompany a baseball and softball game at the middle school I coach at, seemed to bounce off the purple-glazed mountains to the north and quickly returned and hovered over the athletic field. There was a special guest on hand on this particular day as the American Flag flew proudly, attached to the backstop at the north end of the baseball field. The Red, White and Blue flew proudly in honor of 35-year-old Captain Nathan Nylander, killed over a week ago during a shooting at Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. Nylander, survived by his wife,Miriam, and the father of three children, was based at Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. His young son, a member of the middle school baseball team.

My middle school girls on verge of first losing season...

My middle school girls softball team find themselves in a hitting slump. The girls took it on the chin yesterday afternoon. Their lone hit coming in the first inning on a single up the middle. Turns out the first inning was our best offering -- as an offensive attack goes -- with the one hit, two walks, and two of our runners thrown out at the plate on two very close calls. It was downhill from there and a long bus ride home as the girls dropped to 2-3 on the season with a 12-1 loss. The girls end their regular season Wednesday with an away game against an unbeaten team -- a team with the inside track to winning the league and the season-ending tournament,which is scheduled for Saturday, May 14. Still, it has been a good learning experience for the girls in just the second year of the softball program. The cards are stacked against us down the stretch, but this is middle school ball and we still have a shot as we are assured of a 3-seed in the season-ending tourney. Wish us luck! We need to get the bats going.

An eye for a country!

An eye for a country. Osama bin Laden dead.

Why not? Indians vs. Rockies in World Series...

Don't look now, but the top two teams in the major leagues are the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies. Now, if those two early-season, front-runners make it to the big shindig in October, well, I guess I kinda like that idea. Coors Field in Denver and the Big Jake...or the Prog...or officially known as Progressive Park in Cleveland, are two beautiful ball parks and will be pleasing to the eye on national television. I can't get my Arizona Diamondbacks out of the cellar, so to speak, and I'm just plain tired of the same old places like New York, Boston, Arlington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia...well you get the idea, so let's have some new back drops and some new faces in the 2011 World Series. The Indians are currently 18-8 and leading the American League Central by 4 1/2 games, while the Rockies, sporting an impressive 17-8 mark, hold on to the same margin in the National League West. Sounds good to me, but the weather, now that's another story.