Practice #9--Hitting wonderland

You know it's a fun practice when there are so many hitting stations you can't keep up with all of them. The Hegeman family offered up their aptly described "hitting wonderland," as Coach Andrew called it, for an optional workout on Monday.

The afternoon started fairly simply, with some of the normal stations: tee, live pitching, Hurricane and soft toss. The Gum Challenge was once again issued by Coach Andrew, as any player who smacked a line drive off the back of the net during live pitching received a piece of gum.

Add in a basketball station, on which there was one especially good player who kept posting up and dunking on all challengers (side note: challengers may have been about a foot shorter), and that seems like enough for a good holiday practice. But the coaches also unleashed the heretofore unseen Zip 'N Hit, which in addition to being a very good hitting drill, also makes the person (in this case Coach Rob) "throwing" the ball feel like a devastating pitcher with all sorts of movement and velocity. The Mudcats also got some swings in on the Hit a Way, which is designed to showcase the uncanny ability of Americans to take a simple concept, put a fancy name on it, and sell it for $79.99, which is why they are standing in line for bread in the former Soviet Union and we are pummeling their best boxers in Oscar-worthy head-to-head showdowns.

Practice accidentally ended early, which Coach Andrew immediately remedied by offering up the tantalizing opportunity to catch a few tennis ball fly balls. He also illustrated one of the fundamental rules of coaching--coaching is stealing--by incorporating a drill from UNC baseball camp this summer that required the Mudcats to lay flat on the grass facing away from him, hop up as soon as the ball was hit, find the ball, and make the catch. The unsung hero of this drill was Frank, who was in charge of defending the treeline, which was endangered by a combination of some dizzily stumbling Mudcats and Coach Andrew's desire to hit Federer-like forehands in honor of the US Open.

The next practice is Wednesday at 6 at East Cary, which is known at our house as "the field really close to the Dairy Queen." The fall 2010 season opener is Thursday night at 5:30, with the television network still to be announced.