This Sunday, we had another great Sluggers day. While clouds did cover the sky and block out the Sun, it wasn't windy at all, and the temperatures were quite moderate, making for great baseball weather. To begin the day, the kindergartners, coached by Coach Shea, practiced by hitting a bright yellow ball (easier to see) off the T, and running the bases. The 1st and 2nd graders, after warming up by throwing and catching, quickly broke out into a game. Each player hit live pitching, thrown by Coach Josh, who really challenged some hitters by throwing overhand "fastballs" - much faster than they were used to. Quite amazingly, the kids adapted and hit the ball well! For the second week in a row, even though we had a T available for use if the batter wanted it, it was not needed. This week, we didn't even set it up. For this grade level, each side bats once threw the order before rotating onto the field. This week, we introduced and enforced "outs" - if a player was tagged on the way to first, or thrown out at first (or any other base), we called them "out"! Slowly, over the course of the season, we will introduce and enforce more and more rules of the game, with the goal of playing by official baseball rules during the last few games of the season. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders started the day by getting coached by Coach Jon Kalkau, our professional baseball coach from Long Island Baseball Academy. Jon warmed up the players by first providing instruction on proper throwing and catching, then coached them during the game. The game play at this level is pretty intense, with Ben Taub and Cooper Linsky pitching at times, and Coach Jon Kalkau reliving his minor league pitching days with the Washington Nationals by pitching as well. Huge kudos of the day goes to Kayla Lieb, the 4th grader who signed up to be our league photographer. The photos below were taken by her! Thanks, Kayla! Some reminders:
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Newsletters 2011 >
Session #3 - April 10 |