Anyone who knows me realizes that being anywhere near a ball diamond is my ideal location. I’ve loved baseball since I was old enough to wear a glove, and I’ve learned to appreciate the nuances of softball as my daughter has progressed through that sport. Basically, if players run to first, second, third, and home, I’m happy to watch that game!
And what a spring to watch some baseball and softball! Okay, not with the weather so much, but I’ve had the chance to watch some really good games and teams.
Watching my son’s junior high baseball team was cause for encouragement since some of the boys have worked hard to get better at the game. From a group that didn’t win a single game a year ago, they improved throughout last summer, finding the win column five times, and then continued to find some ways to win this spring. There is still a lot of room for improvement, and hopefully they’ll keep working at it.
On the nights I wasn’t watching baseball this spring, I was on a softball diamond with my daughter’s team. Wow! This group of girls on the varsity really took the program places it had never been, literally. For a group with only one senior, they showed maturity and poise for much of the season. When that would falter, you would see the learning happening in real time, and you could remind yourself that there were plenty of 8th, 9th, and 10th-graders out there.
The NRHEG softball team finished second in the Gopher Conference and third in the section come playoff time. No softball team had ever made it to the final four of the section in school history. The future is very bright for many years, and I have confidence these girls will keep getting better and work hard to give themselves a chance at a state tournament. If you’ve never watched softball much or haven’t been to a game in a while, plan on coming out next spring to watch this special group compete!
Speaking of softball and uncharted territory, how about the University of Minnesota Gopher softball team? They also made history by advancing to the Women’s College World Series and have showed people that they are the real deal. I can’t imagine standing at the plate and waiting for a softball to hurtle toward me at 70+ mph, which is what the opposition has to do when up to bat. In baseball, throwing in the 90s is pretty good, but 70s in softball is extremely hard to hit unless you guess correctly. The Gophers may not have ended their season in that tournament the way they wanted, but there’s plenty of optimism for the future.
Finally, we have the Minnesota Twins. If anybody predicted that they’d have a double-digit lead in the division in May and the best overall record in Major League Baseball for much of this season, they would have been told they were crazy. Las Vegas would have taken their money with eagerness, but look at the team now.
Remember, it was just two seasons ago that the Twins made a great run in the summer and played in the wild card playoff game, losing to the New York Yankees. Many of those players are still here, but there are a plethora of newcomers who are making an impact. C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Marwin Gonzalez, and Nelson Cruz have been great additions. The new manager, Rocco Baldelli, also seems to have put his imprint on this team.
The Twins are hitting home runs at an unprecedented pace, looking to demolish the major league record. It’s an odd game when you see they haven’t hit a dinger or two. They can’t possibly keep up this pace, so hopefully they’ll adjust their plate appearances as pitchers learn to pitch differently to the Twins’ batters.
The pitching is what I’m most worried about. The starting pitchers have been stellar, though adding an experienced pitcher with playoff appearances would be nice. It’s the bullpen that is most concerning. Their numbers look good right now, but you can see some flaws and concerns. The Twins win so many games by a large margin that the relievers can pitch without much concern. But when the game is close, I see shades of Ron Davis, the old Twins reliever who would always make things interesting when he appeared. Granted, they’ve pulled out most of these close games as wins, but a couple more relievers, again with playoff experience, would be welcome.
Do the Twins have what it takes to make a serious playoff run? That depends on whether ownership and management want to spend a little money. We’re not the Yankees, Red Sox, or Dodgers, who have money flowing into the coffers, eager to be spent. If the home team has a chance to win this year, they might have to take some chances, just as Houston did a couple years ago.
Regardless, it’s been so much fun watching ballgames of all ages this year. I hope I have many more to come and we can talk about a World Series in October!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is skitterbrook, which means a coward, as in, “The skitterbrook didn’t feel comfortable at any position on a ball diamond, for fear a ball might come his way.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!