hpymomof3
06-18-2008, 09:02 AM
This may seem a little trivial but I'd appreciate some good thoughts/prayers sent my ds way tonight. My dh coaches my ds baseball team made up of 9, 10 and a few 11 year olds. This is my ds first year pitching and he's done pretty well. He doesn't throw extremely hard yet but tends to get a lot of strikes. So he does well unless he faces a really good hitter who tends to get hits off of ds. Our two other main pitchers are the oldest and most experienced. The problem is that both of them tend to get very emotional if things aren't going right.
The way it works in this league is that each team can only score 5 runs per inning but unlimited runs during the 6th inning. Normally dh would want our strongest pitcher (the 11 year old) to pitch last but this pitcher feels too much pressure this way. He really is a good pitcher but as soon as he starts making mistakes he freezes up and starts making a lot of mistakes. Our other experienced pitcher doesn't want to pitch the 6th inning either. He started out strong this year but lately has been walking a ton of batters and once that starts happening he starts crying or throwing his hat around. Dh doesn't want to use him in the 6th inning. We have one other pitcher who is the youngest but has only pitched about 8 innings this year. He is good but doesn't have a lot of confidence. My dh is using him tonight too but this kid definitely doesn't want to pitch last.
So guess who is pitching the 6th inning? It's my ds. He has pitched the last inning before and has done well but since this is the playoff game it will be a lot of pressure. Quite honestly my ds says that he likes the pressure and all the coaches agree that my ds is probably the pitcher that can hold it together under pressure.
I have confidence in my ds but I hate to see him put into this position. Ironically one of the other pitchers tends to put down the other kids. A few games ago this kid threw 10 balls in one inning yet when my ds pitched and threw a couple of balls this kid was yelling at him. If they lose tonight they won't go any further in the playoffs. I'm really ok with that. I know that ds will be disappointed but will be ok with it. I am worried that he will be upset if he "let's down his team" in the 6th inning. He'll hold it together during the game but once we get home I know he will be really sad and mad at himself. I'm just praying that win or lose that the kids will back each other up. As coach, my dh really tries to portray the message "win as a team, lose as a team" but a few of the kids really don't follow this.
The way it works in this league is that each team can only score 5 runs per inning but unlimited runs during the 6th inning. Normally dh would want our strongest pitcher (the 11 year old) to pitch last but this pitcher feels too much pressure this way. He really is a good pitcher but as soon as he starts making mistakes he freezes up and starts making a lot of mistakes. Our other experienced pitcher doesn't want to pitch the 6th inning either. He started out strong this year but lately has been walking a ton of batters and once that starts happening he starts crying or throwing his hat around. Dh doesn't want to use him in the 6th inning. We have one other pitcher who is the youngest but has only pitched about 8 innings this year. He is good but doesn't have a lot of confidence. My dh is using him tonight too but this kid definitely doesn't want to pitch last.
So guess who is pitching the 6th inning? It's my ds. He has pitched the last inning before and has done well but since this is the playoff game it will be a lot of pressure. Quite honestly my ds says that he likes the pressure and all the coaches agree that my ds is probably the pitcher that can hold it together under pressure.
I have confidence in my ds but I hate to see him put into this position. Ironically one of the other pitchers tends to put down the other kids. A few games ago this kid threw 10 balls in one inning yet when my ds pitched and threw a couple of balls this kid was yelling at him. If they lose tonight they won't go any further in the playoffs. I'm really ok with that. I know that ds will be disappointed but will be ok with it. I am worried that he will be upset if he "let's down his team" in the 6th inning. He'll hold it together during the game but once we get home I know he will be really sad and mad at himself. I'm just praying that win or lose that the kids will back each other up. As coach, my dh really tries to portray the message "win as a team, lose as a team" but a few of the kids really don't follow this.