Lessons Learned From Her First Softball Showcase

Triple Crown Softball - Majestic Park

Today I go to the airport to pick my daughter up from her first showcase event. She traveled to the Triple Crown City of Lights event at Majestic Park in Nevada. No I didn’t go with her. There were many reasons for that decision and I think it worked out well.

On the first day of games I was happen to hear that…

  • she got on base a lot
  • she brought in two runs in a bases loaded situation
  • she walked a few times
  • she didn’t miss any balls on defense
  • she was doing a good job managing the money she had for the trip

Overall it sounded like that first day at the tournament went well for her. She did a decent job offensively, didn’t have many opportunities defensively, but did okay there as well from what I could tell and she got to meet Elliott Finkelstein (major event director of Triple Crown Sports).

After talking to her on day one I told my husband that the next day would be a bigger test. Turns out I was right. Day two was tougher for her. They only had two games, but she got to bat 8 times and never got on base. Ouch.

After texting back and forth with her for a while, I found out that most of her hits were ground outs, some pretty well hit. Not a terrible way to get out and it certainly beats pop ups when your in the #2 slot trying to move runners.  Typically runners can advance when you put the ball on the ground and she did move runners a few times.  So her offensive performance was not as awful as it could have been.  I remember Michelle Smith saying, if you’re going to get out (and in our game you get out more than you don’t) you may as well make it a productive out.  It sounds like her outs were at least productive ones some of the time so it wasn’t all bad.  Statistically it definitely wasn’t pretty, but there is more to this game than your batting average.

It also sounds like she did do pretty well on defense that day as well. So while she was quite upset that she had played two games and still had a relatively clean uniform, and while not getting on base all day is not all that great, it didn’t sound like her entire performance was awful.  I reminded her that on some days your contribution to your team will be different than others.  You won’t always be the one getting hits, getting on base, and scoring runs.  It’s great if you do, but if that’s not you that day, make sure you contribute in some other way to help your team and it sounds like she did that, so that’s a good thing.  Sometimes it’s “better” if you don’t do as great as you’d like but your team does well and is successful rather than you doing great but being the only one and your team has a bad day.  Of course, ideally, you and your team have a great day, but that doesn’t always happen.  What we’re trying to avoid is both you and your team having an awful day.  Then that’s just a bad day at the field and does NOT leave a good taste in your mouth at all.

I also reminded her that part of the reason she went to this event was to learn. Now she has an idea of what it’s like to travel and play. It’s not always easy to go on a trip, stay focused, and play well in an environment that’s very different from what you’re used to at home. It’s one thing to have A great day, but almost anyone can have one great day. Good players will find a way to do it again, and again, and again…..not just once. Now she has an idea of how challenging that is. Now she has an idea of what it is she needs to work on and how hard she needs to work to be ready for the next opportunity she has to travel and play.

I reminded her that when she comes back home and practices, it’s not only for “this” weekend’s games and it’s not only for the school season coming up. She has from now until summer to prepare for her next travel opportunity. Each day she practices, each day she trains should be moving her closer to being ready to perform when that day comes as well as prepare her for more immediate competition.

Another reason she went on this trip was to have an opportunity to talk with college coaches. This is something she’ll hopefully be doing even more and more of very soon. Yesterday, she had an opportunity to speak to some of them and “practice” communicating with coaches on her own, without myself or my husband speaking for her. Hopefully that was another good learning experience for her as well.

Now that she’s coming home it’s back to school, catching up on homework, doing chores at home, and training for the future.  Looking forward to talking to her more about the trip when I pick her up this afternoon. 🙂

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