Zach's Pages

Monday, January 28, 2019

Hailey's Homer

Confessions of a Travel Softball Coach




Sometimes perception isn't reality. First impressions aren't always right. 

It was the very first tournament for AO1. More specifically, it was the end of the first tournament as we had just been beaten in single elimination and sent home after posting a 1-3 record. I can't say that I was shocked and neither were Alex or Alyse. We had very little time for this team to grow and the dynamics of the team just weren't there. 

I pulled three players to the side after our team meeting. These three players were our three older girls, those that were not playing their first games in 14U. I had coached just one of these girls and that really wasn't anything more than a single tournament she picked up with a team that I coached months before. 

I leveled with the three girls, all of whom were what I thought were our best hitters. 

"This team will go only as far as you three take it. Your bats are the only thing that are going to produce wins for this group."

Thinking back on this conversation, it was probably really unfair to level those type of expectations on these three players. None of them had ever played together, far as I knew. At the time, I was talking to two of those three players, but I knew the third had potential, though I wasn't sure what to expect from her. I've never had a player hit a home run for me and I felt one of them would do it.

Key and Em were easy to level with because Key is a natural leader, a great player, and has a personality that was easy to deal with. Em is also a gifted player and I believed she was the best hitter that I had ever coached, despite knowing that she had some confidence issues that I would have to overcome, eventually. 

Then there was Hailey, the player I knew the least about and really only included her because she was the second oldest player on the team. 

I didn't partake in the recruitment of any players. I left that to Alex because I hadn't embraced doing anything other than coaching the players under my care. Hailey was at our open tryouts, coming to us as a potential pitcher. She threw hard, for sure. She also plunked about three straight hitters.....at a tryout. The only thing I can say about her was that it didn't bother her. In the field, there was obvious work to be done, but nothing I didn't think I couldn't overcome, because it was mostly the expectation of effort. 

Her first time at the plate was not impressive. At the end of practice number one, I just didn't think she was a good fit, not just because of what she laid out on the field, but because she was so quiet. I was used to vocal players and I assumed silence was disrespectful, especially when I corrected or coached them up. 

Second tryout was much the same for Hailey, except the bat came alive and in a big way. Liner, liner, liner, liner. The problem with this is that without a defense to play against, you can't really judge just how good those liners would be. One thing was absolutely certain, she got all of the ball.

We offered her a spot. In the limited practices before our first tournament, I didn't take stock in the fact that almost 100% of the team had played together or at least had a mutual friend on this team. Hailey did not. That left her as an outsider and her quiet demeanor almost came across as stand-offish or even stuck up. The lone conversation I had with her was about just how bad her old team was and sometimes that comes across wrong. In addition, her parents came to every practice, sat on the fence, and constantly talked to her, something that I was wary of from other parents that may have been a little more involved than they should. 

Following that first tournament, I had considered that they may pull her from the team. What little I knew about her was that she is quietly extremely competitive.

Considering how she didn't really fit in the with the team and her quiet nature, I can't say that I was going to miss her. I asked Alex about it and he had a talk with her parents. The surprising news was that not only were they NOT leaving, they didn't attend a single tryout after practicing with us. They informed us that she didnt want to go anywhere, period. A shocker for me, as I had been on her hard, just to get emotions from her.

Over the fall season, Hailey and I spent a lot of time with each other. For the most part, she only hit in games. She pitched some and would occasionally play in the field, but it was obvious what she was made to do: hit. Yes, she was quiet. Yes, she has a very dry sense of humor, something that can come across wrong, especially coming from a young lady.

The conversation that forever changed my mind came during a mid-season game when she either struck out or hit out and she stopped at third base and told me, pitch by pitch, what went wrong and what she should have done. 

Throughout the season, this happened time and time again. On occasion, she would ask me what I thought. These were high game IQ questions that, truly, no one else would ask. "I knew this pitch was coming because these two pitches proceeded it. I hit here because the defense shaded this way" and so on. 

Her final stats: .333 batting average (2nd), .435 OBP(2nd), .538 slugging (2nd), led the team in total hits and RBI, tied for second with most walks, and had just four strikeouts in the entire season. In finality, she was the best hitter on the team, any way you sliced it. But, she kept finding defenders with her hits. I meant that quite literally. She was taking pitchers and shortstops out of the game because her hits never got off the ground. For a player with home run potential, this became very frustrating to hit almost every at bat but be stuck on first base after barreling a ball. 

Despite having up to five players on this roster with homer potential, not one was hit for me and the drought at coaching a long-ball hitter continued. 

In the off-season, I have worked very, very hard with our girls on hitting. Most all of them needed significant mechanics tweaks or at least to see hundreds of pitches to work on seeing the ball. I took a different approach to Hailey. Sure, I might work on front foot rotation or little things, but I stayed in her ear. I wanted her to be an extension of myself in the box. 

"A walk is a win for them."
"You get one pitch an at-bat."
"You can't win a tournament with one swing." 
"Be aggressive, first pitch is best pitch."
"Know who you are and be who you are."

None of this is 100% true, but I believe that building a power hitter is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one. Her issue was never seeing the ball or hitting it square. It was hitting the wrong pitch, being too passive, or taking too much pressure on herself in one at-bat. 

Friday night before our first tournament, the team went to a local hitting facility, where we've been trying to hit off the simulator at least once a week. By Friday night, the girls were absolutely hitting the cover off of the ball. The bad news, we found out that due to school ball restrictions, Hailey wouldn't be able to play with us until after her high school season. Naturally, we were upset about that but nearly as upset as her parents. They were worried we would move on from Hailey, which prompted a huge laugh from Alex and I. We assured them that we would make do and her spot wasn't going anywhere.

Saturday morning at 8AM, we were in Calsonic Indoor Arena in Shelbyville Tennessee for our tournament. I knew that hitting the ball wasn't going to be an issue. What would be an issue was keeping the ball off the ceiling or off the nets. The only way to hit a dinger was to thread the narrow gap between the net and the ceiling.

First inning of first game, Hailey swings at the first pitch and it is smoked to the wall, but because of the walls inside the arena, it bounces right back to the outfielder and she's stuck on first

Second game, Hailey walks her only at-bat.

Third game, she doesn't like the first pitch. She smashes the second pitch for a double that scores two RBI. Next at-bat, she fouls the first pitch, she swings in desperation at the third pitch, watches the fourth pitch for a third strike to end the inning. We discuss it and she knows what went wrong. She fouled her pitch and then became passive. 

Forth game is the semifinal game. We jump up to a 1-0 lead and Hailey is up to bat. I normally have some words of instruction or encouragement. But, I've noticed that this pitcher's windage is perfect, but she struggles with elevation. The ball is either in the dirt, down the middle of the plate, or over the batters head. So, I tell Hailey that if it comes out of her hand straight, she needs to jump on it. Typically, the first pitch has been money. 

I'd always wondered what my reaction would be when that first homer was hit. Em smashed a no-doubter off the ceiling earlier that day and I felt robbed by that. I know she did. I celebrated when that one came off the bat, just to see it bounce harmlessly to the middle of the outfield for a single. The same thing happened at least two other times that day. By 8:30 that night, I was tired and had honestly given up on being able to yelp and scream and hug that player who would gift me something that I had worked very, very hard to see. 

I had imagined running to the plate and getting in line with all of the other players, none of which have had homers hit for them nor have they hit any themselves, either. I imagined fist bumps and hugs and all types of exuberance. A watershed moment, just as we had the final game of the last season with C's Story

The reality was so much different as I watched the ball clear the net and hit the seats. I didn't find myself jumping and yelling like the idiot I imagined I would be. The truth is, I turned my back to the celebration and let the girls celebrate on their own. I watched it from a distance. I reveled in it because it is their team and her moment, not mine. Hailey rounded third and when she did, she saw AO1 screaming and yelling at her. With tears in her eyes, she did something I had never see her do: she showed emotion and emotional attachment to her team. It's been there all along, I know that. But, it HAS been hard for her. She isn't like the rest of the team. She's never had a team that was her family like every other player on that team. I think while she gets along just fine with all of those girls, she hasn't had that bond. Some of that is being from a different school and playing for different teams. Some of that is the gamer in her. 

Some of that is breaking down her own barriers. She's had that homer in her all along and nothing has change in the six months I've known her but she had to uncork it that first time to know it could be done, and it would be done going forward.  Just like that first dinger, she needed to uncork her emotional reservations and show herself to her team and it took Hailey's first homer to do it.

Post Script:

I never high-fived her as she ran the bases. Two plays later, the inning was over and we lost that game 6-2, never scoring another run. Even between innings, the two of us didn't speak. After the loss, after we shook hands and had a prayer, she eventually approached me. Did she want to brag about it? Did she want to complain about the loss? Nope.

She wanted to talk about how what I said before the at bat affected how she read the ball out of the pitchers hand. She knew it wasn't a good pitch to hit for her as it was a bit outside and low (as you can see in the picture) and how she caught just enough of it to get it out to right center. She wanted to talk about how the pitch sequence she'd seen in the hitter before her told her that was her one pitch










Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Fishing Report for Wheeler 1/21/19

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To start off, I guess I would like to say that furlough life sucks, even with assured back-pay. I don't care who you are, you can run out of things to do and your cash savings PDQ after a month. I could deal with all of it, if the weather would cooperate. 

It hasn't. You guys know this. It's rained, and rained, and rained. When it doesn't rain, post-frontal moves in and it gets real cold. Sometimes it's just rainy AND cold. What did I expect, being in Alabama in January, right? I'd love to start prefishing for Smith, but it's a long way down there on top of the not-so-optimal weather. 

On Monday, it looked like the weather would break. Josh didn't want to take the time to go to Smith, and I was A-ok with that. So, we decided to fish out of Ditto. Of course, there were the small issues with a ton of current. That's been the marker for what has been good days and bad days. But, you know what they say about a bad days fishing....and that still holds true for even those of us NOT working. 

I got a call as I entered south Huntsville from Josh. Ditto was closed. So was Whitesburg. Turns out, that's because the roads were underwater. If you watched the news a few weeks back, you may have seen an interview talking about how the roads into Ditto Landing are below the water level, so while the ramps may be out of water, the roads to them aren't. We tried going onto the arsenal, but we had to try three gates to get one open, so we didn't get on the water until around 11:30. Wyatt tagged along in his boat, too. File that away. 

The way Josh and I thought, the current should drive bad fishing out on the main river. We decided to fish inside Ditto and other bay-type areas.

We began at the lower arsenal ramp area and didn't catch a fish. We moved into the NASA barge area and also didn't get bit. So, we proceeded into Ditto with a stop first inside of Aldridge Creek. Same deal, and though we marked a ton of white bass and could not get even one to bite. Inside Ditto was much of the same. We marked fish and bait, we could not get bit. 

Ditto was almost completely under water and we figured the fish would follow the water level up. 

Fishing around docks that were under water, I finally got bit. It was a very light bite and because I hadn't had the first sniff all day, I tried to set the hook way early. Josh set the hook on a big fish, but didn't get the hooks in her. Eventually, I connected on a fish with a shakey head and swung aboard a nice chunky fish, but pretty obviously a male. Minutes later, I boat swung another big male. Then, Josh connected with the fish pictured above when he played a ned rig out a little deeper. 

After following the new sore line around for half a mile, we found seven bass inside of a spot no bigger than your dinner table. Still, by the end of the bite, we had a solid 12 pound bag without a real giant. 

Now things get interesting. After following us for most of the day, Wyatt struck out on his own. 

After the last few trips, I have found Wyatt has really good instincts, something that I think a lot of fishermen have about that third year of serious fishing. After that, sometimes they get in their own heads, similar to what happens to me a lot. You know, fishing history instead of fishing the moment. 

When he called me around 4PM, I expected him to say he hadn't found anything. So, when he scoffed at our seven fish for 12 pounds with 27 bass of his own, I had to scratch my head. 

I was REALLY scratching my head when he told me he was fishing the heaviest current on that end of the river and catching them every single cast on a crank bait. I know where he was. I just didn't believe it. 

So, we made our way over there after he had signed off and put it on the trailer. Sure enough, we marked all the fish. I was simply amazed at the amount of fish and bait that were standing tall in a massive pileup of current. 

AAANNNDDD.........we didn't get a bite. But this point, the sun was behind the trees and the temperature was dropping. Boy, did Wyatt get a laugh out of us! 

Suffice to say, they can be caught, but you can't outsmart yourself. 

Current was over 140K with visibility in the low inches. Water temp was 47 degrees. 

Monday, January 14, 2019

Fishing Report for Wheeler 1/12/2019

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Let me just say that yes, I realize I haven't put up a report in a month. If you've been following me on Facebook, which you should, you'd know that I HAVE been out fishing. Now, you would think that since I currently don't have a job, thanks to the government shutdown, I would be fishing a TON. 

The answer to this riddle is really two-fold. First, before the shutdown, we had been going to Smith to prepare for the upcoming Alabama Bass Trail event as well as our first club tournament and I have been put under strict orders to not talk about Smith. Again, if you follow me on social media, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you know that we have been catching fish. I'm happy to talk about it on messenger, if you are interested but I'm not going to talk it here. 

Secondly, we haven't fished a lot during the shutdown because the amount of current on the Tennessee river has made fishing simply a crap shoot. I noticed in late November and early December that any current over 100,000 CFS wasn't good fishing on the main river. And, over the last few rain-soaked weeks, current hasn't really been below 170K, which is down-right dangerous. 

The current eventually got below a level that I felt like we might be successful, but then there was the problem with weather stability. Finally, we had a day were we had a few days of stable weather AND the current was fishable, so my friend and co-worker Nick and I put in at Ditto Landing. Nick has never caught a smallie and I thought we had a chance to not only catch a smallie or two, but maybe catch a giant. But, I also knew that the current was still a bit higher (20K higher than experience had told me to fish). 

About the second cast, I catch a decent spot on a Strike King crank and I thought, maybe, just maybe, they would be on. But, I quickly noticed that the fish weren't grouped up and neither was the bait. We did a lot of scanning, but quickly figured out that the fish weren't on the main river again. So, we moved into shallow bays. 

We didn't get bit until we got into the very back of the bays and were around docks. I began to scan larger bait balls and a lot more arches but to get bit, we had to really soak plastic worms. After hours of having just one bite, I finally got bit and broke off a fish. I retied and caught the chunk pictured above on the next cast on a PowerTeam Lures 7" Tickler. Nick caught two or three but it was taking soaking the baits up to five minutes per cast and the fish weren't THAT good. I was also getting a lot of taps from uncommited fish and I decided to leave. 

We fished another bay and Nick got a ton of short strikes but none got in the boat. It was more of the same and I wanted to fish one more current break because I had found that while the fishing may not be great on any of my handful of main river spots, one out of five was likely to hold five or more fish,

Didn't take Nick long to get bit and he fought a 3.5 to 4 pound spot to the boat, but as I tried to pin the fish against the boat, the fish threw the bait. Nick got a few more bites on his swimbait he was throwing, but as we drifted, I went across one of the rockpiles I've caught them good on in the past and sure enough, there were around three large arches sitting on it. 

So, we drifted over and I picked up the jig. I had five bites on consecutive casts that landed two really nice spots of around 2.5 pounds apiece, but I missed several more bites. Nick was able to get a few more bites including another decent fish. 

Both Nick and I were out of time but after several hours of just a once bite, we figured them out and even put together a really solid 11-12 pound bag.