Practice last Saturday....

We had our first practice of the season last weekend and it went well. 8 team members were in attendance, Jeff Johnson, Matt Hanson, Lee & Jared Valle, Nick & AJ Larson, Jason Merritt and myself.

Everyone got to field some grounders and shag some flies and then finish up with some swings. The weather was gorgeous and everyone got some good work in. With more newcomers, it'll be interesting to see how we piece together that lineup so we can challenge for the title again this summer.

The ball was carrying pretty well but we didn't use the new bat, The Mutant, or the most potent bat from last year, The Freak Plus, just in case it was too chilly for the good bats. On a side note, I did take the Mutant out and swing it on Sunday and it felt pretty solid. I wasn't at a field but am pretty sure that there were some 300-foot shots. Once it gets broken in, it should be real solid.

The Synergy played real well Saturday, more so than the Freak 98. I think the Crush2 was also used but can't remember exactly.

Matt and Jared had their first taste of softball life, and eased into it well. Both stayed down on the ball in the infield, which means they don't know enough that the ball can jump up and hit you in the face at some point. That's good. Outfield was a bit more challenging but that will come with practice. Both made good contact at the plate, which is a positive. In this game, it starts with, "Can you put the bat on the ball?" Once you get past that, other things will come. Matt heated up as he went and Jared showed some loft on his swing. Once both get comfortable and start using their whole bodies, the balls will jump a little bit off their bats.

Lee impressed me the most at the plate. He was hitting some shots to both right-center and left-center. He knocked a few out to the wall but had some good zip on every swing. Plus, with his eagle eye, he won't waste any swings up there.

Jason, although just a sub for us, showed great improvement from last year. He swung with much more authority and soothed me knowing that he'll be there if we're short a guy. He drove the ball better than I've ever seen but did get under the ball a tad. He launched his first-ever homer and just missed another one.

The Larson boys were solid as usual. They stayed after and had more batting practice with their other team so they got a good workout in. AJ hit it hard and low to both sides of the field and Nick showed that gap power and hit some good shots.

Jeff hit some tasers in the ground and stayed on top of the ball really well. Last year he struggled a bit with pop-ups, but you wouldn't have guessed it Saturday the way he was torching grounders. He hits it hard.

I took 16 swings righty and 4 lefty and hit 8 homers: 7 right-handed and 1 left-handed. I used the Synergy and thought it swung a lot better than when I used it last spring. I was out in front on a lot of balls but managed to put some good action on most pitches.

Our next practice is Thursday at 6 PM which will just be hitting. We'll play "Outs," so depending on the number of guys we have, we'll have 3 or 4 teams and everyone will start their round of outs with 5 swings and then we'll play. Saturday will be our scrimmage. Everyone will get 4 at bats and then we'll probably call it a day.

The schedule will be posted next. Have a good week everyone!