At the end of last season, Jake said goodbye to T-ball. He also said goodbye to the White Sox. He's playing "Coach Pitch Baseball" this year. And while he's not wearing the Sox uniform, he's still playing with the same group of boys. We're now the Giants. That's right! With Jake playing for the Giants & Lila playing for the Dodgers, we're an all Californian household. And with his head of curly red locks, Jake's a little easier to identify in the field this year.
So what's coach pitch? In coach-pitch, each player is thrown four pitches. If he doesn't get a hit, he has three opportunities to hit the ball off the tee. There are three outs or five runs per inning. The biggest challenge in coach-pitch as far as I can see? Finding a grown up who can throw four consecutive good pitches to a 5/6-year-old. That's a pretty small & low strick zone! But our coach and our boys do great.
We were actually late to the Giant's season opener, because Jake had a soccer game that morning as well. That explains why Jake is a little out of uniform in all the pictures. But inspite of running around a soccer field for an hour, changing jerseys in the car and getting to the game just in time for his at bat, he played a good game.
Jake's got a good swing and can make contact with the ball. But I'm pleased to say that when he struggles hitting the pitch and has to hit off the tee, he takes it in stride. Last year there would have been some frustrated fits in those situations. A little maturity goes a long way.
Jake can teach Delila a thing or two about base running.
The opposing offense never had a chance!
No more kicking around in the dirt - Jake's focused and ready in the field.
Jake's been playing with most of these boys for three years now. They know the score and when the innings over....
They know when to take off their batting helmets and take the field. They look more and more like "Big Boys" every game...
...the dugout talk is more about baseball and less about shenanigans. Although there's still plenty of fooling around.
It's going to be a fun season!
