Practice--Hitting wonderland

I assume that somewhere in the Hitting Wonderland, actual baseball is played. At the Basketball Station, we are not exactly aware of where that takes place.

Tuesday's practice got off to a promising start when Gabe ran up to Coach Andrew and said, in the quietest voice ever used by a member of the Proctor family, "The practice shirts are here." And it wasn't just practice shirts--GM Jenn/Clubhouse Manager Jenn had uniforms, pants, shirts and hats for everyone. The new all-black motif is certain to be very intimidating (as long as no one uses the word "motif" again).

Things turned bloody when Gabe noticed his loose tooth was bleeding. Adam and Coach Rob eyeballed it and advised him to put a napkin on it to stop the bleeding and then subtly moved as far away as possible. GM Jenn, showing that her versatility extends to oral surgery, proceeded to extract the tooth and still retain it for later use. Gabe's smile now looks a little different.

The rest of practice was devoted to a series of hitting stations, plus the basketball station, which consisted mostly of the tall kids practicing hanging on the rim while Adam and Asher showed off by getting major ups to scrape the bottom of the net. Also, Referee Sticks commandeered Coach Tom's whistle, which led to some very questionable calls.

At the post-practice team meeting, Coach Andrew provided another key piece of uniform advice, asking the Mudcats what one key part of the uniform they must remember at tomorrow night's season opener. Guesses ranged from uniforms to running shoes, but eventually the answer was determined to be hitting shoes (seriously, that's the first thing that comes up when you Google "hitting shoes").

Pregame, which hopefully will not take place underwater, begins tomorrow at 4:30, with the first pitch promptly at 5:30.