Practice: Halfway there

After an incredibly long two-day hiatus from the West Raleigh fields, the Mudcats regrouped Thursday night for a short 90-minute session. The first 30 minutes were spent in the cage.

After moving to the field for the final hour--only after former Mudcat Ben Penchuk crushed an over-the-fence home run during the Lookouts-Bulls game--Coach Sean had one major focus: "We have to lock down our defense," he told the 'Cats. That meant a full 60 minutes of defensive work, beginning with outfielders hitting the cutoff man while infielders lined up the cutoff man and received and made quick throws. In the Minor League, unfamiliar base runners at first can sometimes mean there are force outs at second to be had on hard singles up the middle, and Coach Sean wants the outfielders to play aggressively and make those plays. The All Blacks have converted two force outs from the outfield through the first seven games.

The final 10 minutes were devoted to situations, with everyone on the play--infielders, outfielders and even the baserunners--required to think about what they were going to do before the ball was hit. Coach Sean managed to conserve his power and only hit one ball over the fence.

Even with all the defensive work, the best catch of the day was clearly by Channing. While on vacation with his family at the beach, he used his bare hands to catch what appeared to be a hammerhead shark. A photo of his wildlife taming was shown to the team, which was suitably impressed.

The next Mudcat event is a Saturday game at 3 p.m., which means pregame starts at 2 p.m. The 'Cats have now played every team in the league once, which means Saturday--against a tough Lookouts squad that was missing several players when the two teams first met--begins the second half of the season.