How do you get over a mistake when you have nothing positive to draw on yet? It was our first game of the season, up 7-6 going into the bottom of the last inning. I was in LF.. 1st batter hit a liner into the gap, and I overran the ball. Now, that was a screamer and impossible to read, but I still had a chance got a piece (barehand) of the ball as it skipped by me. I knew I had a man backing me up (his miss wasn't really excusable there). Anyway, that guy went to 3rd and eventually scored. Tie game, 2 outs, man on base, big bopper lefty pull-hitter up. I had a huge shift on cause I played with this guy before...and I basically have a lot of center and all of LF to cover. He gets it off the end of the bat (but still pulls some)...looks like it's going to my CF...but it tails towards me and I didn't read that until late! I still had a chance on a late break...but on a reaching-behind-me play it popped out. Game over. I've been tweaking my swing and messed it up...had a terrible day at the plate (and I had RISP twice)...and lost the game on the fly ball. How do you get over that? (In fact, I think I lost a game the exact same way when I was 12 in little league...and I still remember that one.) It's hanging over me, and nothing positive this season yet to draw on. Oh, and I have a doubleheader again tomorrow. I think I'm gonna drop myself near the bottom of the order.
You just have to put it out of your head and realize there's always another game, another day. I've made my share of mistakes, but the worst thing you can do is dwell on it and take your focus away from the game at hand. I made a real stupid mistake myself tonight but I let it go and focused on the next batter, and it didn't cost us by the end of the game.
Look at the bright side, a few more games like that and you'll probably get a contract offer from the Astros...
Just realize that tomorrow is another game and another day. For me personally, I started off the season horribly. I had like one hit or something in our first three games. Anyways, after working and tweaking my swing, I've gona 7 for 9 in the last three games with two triples, two homers, a double, two singles, and a walk, to go with 6 rbis. Not a bad turnaround. Just figure out what you did or are doing wrong and fix it. If it can't be fixed, put it behind you.
I hit around .750 last summer in the softball league I played in. Of course, I'm probably considered quite a ringer due to my baseball background, but whatever. The key to getting hits is to keep the ball out of the air. Grounders and liners are much more likely to be hits (or errors by the other team) than popups or fly balls. The problem is every dude out there has these visions of grandeur that they're going to smack a homerun every time they step to the plate. Forget that. If you have a flat swing you're going to get on base, and depending on your strength will likely hit a few homeruns.
I concur with this statement, especially if you have some wheels on you. Hit the ball on the ground and run like hell.
Very true. I've never been a power hitter, so I just try to get on base with whatever means. And I get on base a lot because I usually hit grounders or line drives. Hit the ball on the ground anything can happen. Hit it in the air, it's almost a gauranteed out.
Amen! I'd been dropping my shoulder and popping out everytime. I guess you could say I was swinging for the fences every time. With my leg strength and body size, I should have had tons of power, and I just figured that I had to swing as hard as I could to show the power. Three games ago, I re-worked my swing so that I wouldn't drop my shoulders anymore (after some timely advice). Once I did this, I'm hitting all line drives, and they're going FAR off the bat. Ever since, I'm hitting .777 (like I said) with 2 homers, 2 triples, a double, 2 singles, a walk, and 6rbis. I've hit a homerun in each of the last two games, and I'm tied for the team lead in homeruns now. Now my only problem is that I hit everything to straightaway center....
how long did you play baseball, texxx? as for the subject of the thread...don't sweat it. even the pros have bad days. in the end, it's just a game. the more you seek to just enjoy it, the better you'll find yourself playing.
no. i don't either. played on a church league team last summer. fun to get out there and play again. but could not care less if we won or how i did...except for wanting my son to see me play!
Well, I'm in a league now, and I honestly don't care if we win or lose and I certainly don't keep stats, but I did get annoyed at our pitcher who couldn't throw a strike to save her life. Walking guys in a co-ed league is terrible and it's even worse when she can't catch the throw back from the catcher. Other than that? Completely laid-back. Oh and Jack's got a good thing going...I'd ask him to look away when you were batting if I were you.
I haven't played in a while. But it was nice to have my kids watch. As long as we won I didn't care what my OPS was.
eh, it's tough not to take anything at least semi-serious. I mean, we have fun, joke around with the ump and the other team (and each other) all game, etc. But we're still gonna *try* to win the game in the end. And when a loss can fall on your head individually (even if it wasn't just that play...that was still the play to end it), then it'll hit a little harder always I think. I mean, it's not often you get an opportunity to make a play with the game on the line, so you'd like to make it. Same thing though, if we ever have a pitcher who walks the bases loaded and starts walking in runs, that's no fun...or walking guys in front of girls, etc. edit: and yeah, if we had won, I wouldn't have cared at all how I hit and just tried to improve for next time
You should asked to be moved to catcher, its a lot less complicated position. Also, anybody who keeps stats in rec. softball needs to get a life.
Yeah, I hear ya. Maybe my attitude will change when I realize the ball I mis-played only added one run to our 18-1 loss (freaking pitcher).
haha, well if you're not joking...i'm not *bad*. I had a bad game. I don't need to ask, cause I'm the captain...but I'm a pretty good outfielder usually. Maybe it's posts like this that will put me back in perspective though, so thanks
