Softball Preview

With spring rapidly approaching, our attention is turning toward outdoor activities. We recently signed up the girls to play softball this summer. Mady, who's almost 9, is playing in her second season. Last year she started out fast by getting hits in her first 4 or 5 at-bats, then went into a slump, and finished strong. She's excited to play again, which is to be expected since she's always excited to play sports. Then there's Abby.

We were set to have Abby play basketball this winter. Then I tried to pass her the ball in the living room and it became very obvious that she wasn't ready. Instead of catching it, she bats it away. I decided to give it another year and maybe she'll be ready next winter. Either that, or she needs to play volleyball where slapping the ball away is perfectly acceptable.
Softball for Abby could be brutal. Most 7-year-olds aren't good at it, but I got a sneak peek of what it'll be like last night. She was sitting at the table while I got her a plastic cup. I told her I was going to throw it, because a)she needs to work on catching and b)it weighs 2 oz. so it can't possibly hurt her. I lofted it to her and it hit her square in the forehead. Her hands never made a move to catch it, and she didn't duck out of the way. She started crying and I consoled her. And that's what softball will be like this summer.