Go Rockin' Hoppers

I know I am way behind on blogging but I didn't realize I had not blogged anything about Millie's softball season yet. I'll try to sum is all up now.

She was drafted to the Green Team but that name wouldn't do so somehow the girls voted and their name became the Rockin' Hoppers. So there you go. The coaches knew many of these girls from the previous season but considering we move all the time, Millie has to keep establishing her athletic and intellectual abilities in every new town. Even though she was one of the youngest on the team (we may have fibbed about her age so that she didn't have to play on the t-ball league) the coaches noticed right away that she was a strong and consistent catcher, thrower and batter. They placed her at Pitcher's Helper in the outfield and she led off the batting as the first batter. For those of you who may not be familiar with the 8U softball league, it is coach pitch but there is still a player who plays that position to field the ball and stop the play. So Pitcher's Helper along with First Base are the 2 most critical positions on the team. Although she has the skills necessary for this position, she didn't know the game well enough to think fast and know how to play the position. But she quickly caught on after the first 2 games and after losing the first 2 games, they came out with a fantastic season and won the rest of the regular season games. They went into the playoffs as the third seed. They easily won the first 2 games of the tournament but lost the third which sent them to the losers bracket because it was a double elimination tournament. It was a pretty tough team that beat them and the number 1 seed. We were pretty sure that we would beat the team in the final game of the losers bracket to get back in the final championship game but but a fluke, they beat us. They played well and our girls had several unusual mistakes so we didn't make it to the final game.

I was very proud of Millie though and how well she did at her first season of softball. She caught 3 or 4 pop flies and made a double play all by herself in one game by catching the pop fly and then tagging a base runner out. It was very exciting! I think she was most excited about games where she had people other than me come and watch her. She made it a point to tell me about halfway through the season that she never lost a game where she had someone special watching her. Throughout the season my mom, sister and nephew came, Brian and Hannah, Pat and Amy as well as her teacher and her 2 best friends that lived next door to us

She had a great season, fantastic coaches and a great support group that cheered her on along the way. Thanks to everyone who boosted her spirits and kept her excited about the game.