Of course it happens...

when Mom (me) can't be there.

For the last several tournaments, my oldest daughter has been "pitching up a storm"... nearly untouchable, but she's been struggling with her hitting. She struck out more times last weekend than I think I've seen her strike out in the last year. And, of course, she was distraught.

Well, this week we figured out the problem. Her swing didn't need tweaking, she wasn't doing any "soft toss" hitting before each game. She was so busy warming up to pitch that no one thought to let her hit a few balls before the games.

So, this weekend my husband took his bucket of balls. Before she started warming up her pitching, he threw her a couple dozen balls. And BANG! she hits the snot out of the ball her first at bat of the day. Roped the ball to left field... burned the left fielder with a two-hopper to the fence (her first triple of the game). Boom! Next time up she laced the second hit to left center. This one lacked an inch of going completely over the fence. As she told me when she called, "Mom, when it hit the fence, it was still in the air!" She just missed her first homerun... for another triple.

The game ended with her on deck waiting to hit again. I'm sure their pitcher was glad to not have to face my baby for a third time.

And her pitching? Stellar! She gave up one hit and one walk over 4 innings. No runs. I hear her change up was screwing batters into the ground. That's my baby!

And all of this while I'm at home. Yep. I'm not there to see it. Why, you ask? Well, Thursday night I broke a tooth... badly. My dentist agreed to come back from hunting today to meet me and fix it. I have an appointment at noon in Bryan. Bummer. This'll be the weekend my daughter JACKS one over the fence, and I'll have to settle for a play by play.

I hope someone there has a camera!

Have a great afternoon!