Little League Baseball - First Scrimmage

Well, my son's first scrimmage was yesterday afternoon. After a week of sun and temps in the upper 60's and 70's, the weather turned a little chillier for our first scrimmage yesterday afternoon. It was windy, but sunny and about 60-65 degrees, depending on whether you were sitting in the sun or in the shade.

It's a machine pitch league full of mostly 2nd graders, some of which have never played organized baseball, and some that have been playing for a couple of years. The scrimmage went kind of fast (about an hour and a half), as each player, on each team, got, at most, 5 pitches, over three innings of play. My son had three hits and scored one run. I don't know what the final score was, but I don't believe score was being kept for this scrimmage. Not sure if the score will be kept for their games. Wasn't like this when I was playing little league. We ALL knew the score. But I digress.

It's funny to watch these kids play. The ages range from about 6 to 8 years old. When these kids are up to bat, you can tell which ones watch the pros and which ones don't, based on how they hold the bat and take their practice swings. As for when the kids take the field, well... let's just say that they are not taking cues from the pros. If the ball isn't hit directly to them, they are very hesitant to move from where they are standing, unless the coach (nicely) hollers at them to get the ball and throw it to the nearest base, which is a chore in some cases. I vaguely remember playing little league, but I'm sure I was just as hilarious as these kids are.

Games begin this Thursday. I don't think our team will be practicing (only had two practices before our scrimmage yesterday), as the fields are pretty much in use every night, so this will be fun to watch.