Practice--Tagging up

Monday's practice session began, as usual, with a throwing contest. Smiley won the first round and Christopher claimed the second.

Following the throwing contest and a team lap (or, as Gabe likes to call it, "Everybody behind me!"), the Mudcats split into stations. Coach Rob manned the outfield station. In Coach Tom's absence (it is believed Coach Tom and JJ were off scouting another game), Coach Mike was in charge of the conditioning station. Coach Sean ran the infield station while Coach Adam played his usual integral role.

After a quick water break, the All Blacks came together to work on baserunning from third base and outfielders getting the ball to the cutoff man (in theory) and then relaying the ball to the plate. As you will remember, this is a play the 'Cats have executed successfully at least twice this year. Let's just say their conversion percentage is a little higher in the games than it is in practice. Perhaps we can blame the struggles on the slightly complex rotation put in place to make sure everyone tried each position, and on the catching advice being dispensed by Coach Mike, Coach Rob and Coach Adam to the unfortunate catchers.

Several players/groups earned praise after practice. The six-year-old trio of Brenner, Asher and Gavin were singled out for their leadership and effort. The eight-year-olds were noted for their improved effort level at practice. The seven-year-olds had the unfortunate role of being neither the youngest nor the oldest, but there was a team-wide helmet sticker awarded (the group of Christopher, Smiley, Drew, Zach and Anthony received two because they were in an "earn-back" situation) for focus and effort. Hayes and Zach were deemed the Mudcats who best personified the focus, so they captained the relay teams. Despite some shenanigans around home plate trying to slow up Hayes's team, they still emerged victorious, which allowed Hayes to lead the final team cheer.

The next Mudcats event is Thursday night's game at 5:30.