Closing Ceremonies...

The softball season is coming to an end for the 2009 season...

Please join with us and celebrate good sportsmanship and fond memories with your daughters.

Closing Ceremonies will be held at the Washington Ball Fields, 6 PM

We will see you there...

This week's Games

Monday NO GAMES Holiday

Tuesday

Juniors Vs Dixie 2 not reported

Diamonds w vs Dixie 1 l by forfeit
Red Sox l vs Dixie 2 w

Wednesday

No Games

Thursday

red Sox vs dixie 2 6pm cancelled-dixie fields
fire balls vs yankees Washington fields 6:00 PM




Friday

Washington 1 vs Washington 2

Schedule for May 18th

wash 2 vs dixie 3 not reported
wash 3 vs wash 1 not reported

May 19

Fireballs vs dixie 1 not reported
d3 vs yankees not reported
Diamonds vs Hur2 not reported
red sox vs Hur 1 not reported

Juniors win Hurricane loss

May 21

Diamonds vs Fireballs cancelled
red sox vs yankees not reported

Jrs vs Dixie 2 canceled

May 22nd
w2 vs d2 not reported
w3 vs d1 not reported
w1 vs d3 not reported

Schedule for week of May 11

Minors:
Dixie 1 vs washington 1 not reported
Dixie 2 washington 3 not reported
Dixie 4 Washington 2 not reported

May 12 Red Sox vs Dixie 1 not reported

May 13th

Washington loss Dixie 2 win

May 14
Dixie 3 vs Yankees not reported
Diamonds win Red Sox lose

Lincoln win Washington Jr Loss

May 15

washington 2 vs washington 3 not reported

SBACK SHACK DUTIES

THE SNACK SHACK IS HOW WE PAY OUR UMPIRES, LEAGUE COSTS AND HELP PARENTS HAVE A MORE REASONABLE FEE TO PLAY TO SIGN UP FOR LITTLE LEAGUE. IF THERE WAS NO SNACK SHACK, NOT ONLY WOULD WE HAVE NO SNACKS, DRINKS AND MEALS AT THE FIELDS, BUT WE WOULD EACH PAY ALOT MORE FOR EACH OF OUR KIDS TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY.

SHELLY MAKKEN NEEDS OUR HELP...NEEDS US ON TIME WITH A GOOD ATTITUDE AND NO EXCUSES....HERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THE GIRLS TO BEAT THE BOYS...LETS SHOW UP, WORK HARD AND NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR CHANCE TO SAVE OURSELVES A LOT OF MONEY :)

MINORS STORM MAY 11TH 5 PM
MINORS ANGELS MAY 11TH 7 PM
JUNIOR GIRLS MAY 13TH 5PM
MAJORS RED SOX MAY 14 5 PM
MAJORS YANKEES MAY 14 7 PM

Oops...schedule for the week...a day late

Tuesday


Majors

Red Socks win vs Hurricane loss
Silver Storm win vs Yankees loss

Juniors

Dixie 2 loss vs Washington win


Wednesday

Make Up game Minors

Wahington 1 loss vs washington 2 win


Thursday Schedule

Majors

Yankees vs Hurricane not reported
Fireballs Win vs Red Socks Loss


Juniors

Thurs May 7 Lincoln Co. win Wahington Loss

Friday

Dixie 3 vs Washington 3 on Dixie Field 3 not reported
Dixie 2 vs Washington 2 on Dixie Field 3 not reported

What this Game is supposed to be about

Hey parents and players...

As we are getting started in our season I wanted to remind everyone what we are striving for out there on the field. Sure it is fun to win...but that, I hope, is not our ultimate goal. It is my hope that our ultimate goal is to see everyone grow and succeed. That we make new friends and learn lessons about sportsmanship, how to handle something when it isnt fair, mistakes happen, those we are competing with are still people we like and care about...Work hard, practice makes perfect...all that stuff...SO MUCH MORE valuable than that 5 dollar trophy at the end of the season...and has so much more influence in our lives.

I want to challenge WASHINGTON LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL players, parents, coaches and fans to strive to have the best sportsmanship in the area... I know we can do it here in Washington, we are made up of great familes...so lets do it!!! Let's welcome our opponents, accept the umpires calls with grace, and celebrate the game...win lose or draw.

Here is one of my favorite softball stories of all...This happened on the collegiate level...THIS is what we want our youngsters to be in life...This would be the real trophy to take with you, long after the plastic batter is stored away in a box.

Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.

Stephen Katin/WOUSara Tucholsky got a lift from the opposition in scoring her first homer.
Both schools compete as Division II softball programs in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Neither has ever reached the NCAA tournament at the Division II level. But when they arrived for Saturday's conference doubleheader at Central Washington's 300-seat stadium in Ellensburg, a small town 100 miles and a mountain range removed from Seattle, the hosts resided one game behind the visitors at the top of the conference standings. As was the case at dozens of other diamonds across the map, two largely anonymous groups prepared to play the most meaningful games of their seasons.
It was a typical Saturday of softball in April, right down to a few overzealous fans heckling an easy target, the diminutive Tucholsky, when she came to the plate in the top of the second inning of the second game with two runners on base and the game still scoreless after Western Oregon's 8-1 win in the first game of the afternoon.
"I just remember trying to block them out," Tucholsky said of the hecklers. "The first pitch I took, it was a strike. And then I really don't remember where the home run pitch was at all; [I] just remember hitting it, and I knew it was out."
A part-time starter in the outfield throughout her four years, Tucholsky had been caught in a numbers game this season on a deep roster that entered the weekend hitting better than .280 and having won nine games in a row. Prior to the pitch she sent over the center-field fence, she had just three hits in 34 at-bats this season. And in that respect, her hitting heroics would have made for a pleasing, if familiar, story line on their own: an unsung player steps up in one of her final games and lifts her team's postseason chances.
But it was what happened after an overly excited Tucholsky missed first base on her home run trot and reversed direction to tag the bag that proved unforgettable.
"Sara is small -- she's like 5-2, really tiny," Western Oregon coach Pam Knox said. "So you would never think that she would hit a home run. The score was 0-0, and Sara hit a shot over center field. And I'm coaching third and I'm high-fiving the other two runners that came by -- then all of a sudden, I look up, and I'm like, 'Where's Sara?' And I look over, and she's in a heap beyond first base."
While she was doubling back to tag first base, Tucholsky's right knee gave out. The two runners who had been on base already had crossed home plate, leaving her the only offensive player on the field of play, even as she lay crumpled in the dirt a few feet from first base and a long way from home plate. First-base coach Shannon Prochaska -- Tucholsky's teammate for three seasons and the only voice she later remembered hearing in the ensuing conversation -- checked to see whether she could crawl back to the base under her own power.
Rule clarification
As one of the umpires involved in the game between Central Washington and Western Oregon confirmed in an e-mail to ESPN.com, the rule in question was misinterpreted on the field after Tucholsky's injury and later clarified by the NCAA.
According to page 105, rule 8.5.3.2 of the NCAA softball rule book, "If an injury to a batter-runner or runner prevents her from proceeding to an awarded base, the ball is dead and the substitution can be made. The substitute must legally touch all awarded or missed bases not previously touched."
-- Graham Hays
As Knox explained, "It went through my mind, I thought, 'If I touch her, she's going to kill me.' It's her only home run in four years. I didn't want to take that from her, but at the same time, I was worried about her."
Umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.
"And right then," Knox said, "I heard, 'Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?'"
The voice belonged to Holtman, a four-year starter who owns just about every major offensive record there is to claim in Central Washington's record book. She also is staring down a pair of knee surgeries as soon as the season ends. Her knees ache after every game, but having already used a redshirt season earlier in her career, and ready to move on to graduate school and coaching at Central, she put the operations on hold so as to avoid missing any of her final season. Now, with her own opportunity for a first postseason appearance very much hinging on the outcome of the game -- her final game at home -- she stepped up to help a player she knew only as an opponent for four years.
"Honestly, it's one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me," Holtman said. "She hit the ball over her fence. She's a senior; it's her last year. … I don't know, it's just one of those things I guess that maybe because compared to everyone on the field at the time, I had been playing longer and knew we could touch her, it was my idea first. But I think anyone who knew that we could touch her would have offered to do it, just because it's the right thing to do. She was obviously in agony."
Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky's left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game's history hit all three players.
"We all started to laugh at one point, I think when we touched the first base," Holtman said. "I don't know what it looked like to observers, but it was kind of funny because Liz and I were carrying her on both sides and we'd get to a base and gently, barely tap her left foot, and we'd all of a sudden start to get the giggles a little bit."
Accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans, they finally reached home plate and passed the home run hitter into the arms of her own teammates.
Then Holtman and Wallace returned to their positions and tried to win the game.

Blake Wolf Sara Tucholsky got a lift from Central Washington's Liz Wallace, left, and Mallory Holtman.
Hollywood would have a difficult time deciding how such a script should end, whether to leave Tucholsky's home run as the decisive blow or reward the selfless actions of her opponents. Reality has less room for such philosophical quandaries. Central Washington did rally for two runs in the bottom of the second -- runs that might have tied the game had Knox been forced to replace Tucholsky -- but Western Oregon held on for a 4-2 win.
But unlike a movie, the credits didn't roll after the final out, and the story that continues has little to do with those final scores.
"It kept everything in perspective and the fact that we're never bigger than the game," Knox said of the experience. "It was such a lesson that we learned -- that it's not all about winning. And we forget that, because as coaches, we're always trying to get to the top. We forget that. But I will never, ever forget this moment. It's changed me, and I'm sure it's changed my players."
For her part, Holtman seems not altogether sure what all the fuss is about. She seems to genuinely believe that any player in her position on any field on any day would have done the same thing. Which helps explains why it did happen on that day and on that field.
And she appreciates the knowledge that while the results of Saturday's game and her senior season soon will fade into the dust and depth of old media guides and Internet archives, the story of what happened in her final game at home will live on far longer.
"I think that happening on Senior Day, it showed the character of our team," Holtman said. "Because granted I thought of it, but everyone else would have done it. It's something people will talk about for Senior Day. They won't talk about who got hits and what happened and who won; they'll talk about that. And it's kind of a nice way to go out, because it shows what our program is about and the kind of people we have here."

MONDAY GAMES ARE CANCELLED

THE CITY WILL BE USING THE BALL FIELDS THIS MONDAY SO THERE WILL BE NO GAMES ON THE WASHINGTON FIELDS....

I WILL POST THE MAKE UP TIME WHEN I HAVE IT AVAILABLE.

UNIFORMS ARE HERE

HEY!!!

UNIFORMS ARE AT THE SCREEN PRINTER AND WILL BE READY FOR THURSDAY PLAY.

YOUR COACH WILL HAVE MORE DETAILS BUT IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THEY WILL BE FINISHED BY NOON THURSDAY!

THANKS KELLY FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPEN!!

This Week's Games

Monday April 27th

Washington 2 win vs Dixie 2 loss
Washington 3 vs Dixie 1 tied game
Washington 1 win vs Dixie 3 loss


Tuesday April 28th

Yankees Loss vs Fireballs Win
Red Sox win vs Dixie 2 Loss

Washington Jrs Win vs Dixie Loss


Thursday April 30th

Hurricane Loss vs Diamonds win
Fireballs w vs Dixie 3 loss


Washington Jrs Win vs Hurricane Jrs Loss

Friday Games

Minor League

Angels vs Fireballs 5:oo PM Washington Fields
Silver Storm vs Dixie 3 6:00 PM Dixie Fields

Good Luck Washington!!

SNACK SHACK DUTIES

Please - don't forget Snack Shack Duties this week

Major Yankees - Thurs the 23rd of this week 5:15 - 7:00

The 30th - Junior Softball girls 5:15 - 7:00
Fireballs 7:00 - 9:00

Monday May 4th - Minor Fireballs 7:00 - 9:00
Tuesday May 5th - Diamonds 5:15 - 7:00

THURSDAY GAMES

MAJORS

DIAMONDS WIN VS DIXIE LOSS

RED SOX VS DIXIE 3 AT DIXIE FIELD 1 730 PM Not reported

FIREBALLS WIN VS HURRICANE LOSS

YANKEES WIN VS HURRICANE LOSS

JUNIORS

WASHINGTON WIN VS HURRICANE LOSS

DRILL IDEAS FOR COACHES...THANKS FOR VOLUNTEERING AND HELPING OUR GIRLS

Humans are creatures of habits.
We do the same thing the same way all the time.
Coaches are no different; we tend to use the same drills over and over.
That can get pretty boring for the players and they don't get as much as out of it.
Variety is not only important for motivation but also to throw a different learning stimulus to your athletes.
They need to be challenged in order to improve.
To help you spice up your hitting practices, here are some fun and effective softball hitting toss drills.
If you would like even more of that kind of stuff to boost your hitting, you may want to get your hands on a copy of my Super Hitting Bundle (which is being taken off the market in a few days) at a really really good price right.
Click this link to get more info:
http://www.softballperformance.com/offers/garage-sale.html#hittingbundle
Now, here are the drills for you:
--------------Cool Hitting Toss Drills--------------
Pepper Game
To develop bat control and short, quick swing. Stand approximately 22 feet away from the three fielders who position themselves two feet apart. Hit the ball using a short, quick, downward stroke. Hit the ball sharply with one or two hops (ground balls) to the fielders. A fielder fields the ball and quickly tosses a half to three quarter speed pitch back to be hit. Hit the ball where it is pitched. Preferably use four players in this drill and not more than five. Hit the inside pitch to the fielder to your left (for a right handed batter). Hit the pitch in the middle to the fielder directly in front of you. Hit the outside pitch to the fielder to your right (for a right handed batter). To make the drill more difficult, use two softballs at once, keeping the hitter constantly ready to swing and fielders always head-up.
Colored Ball Soft Toss
The hitter learns to concentrate and keep the weight back. The coach tosses the two balls at different heights. The coach calls the color to hit after the balls are released. The hitter hits the called ball into the fence or screen. This drill can be done from different locations. The coach should also fake toss and change the release points as well as vary the speed of the balls.Variations1. Once you've mastered the first version of this drill, try three balls. Or allow your partner to call out colors that aren't being tossed.2. You might even try to write numbers on the ball with a magic marker -- simply have your partner call out the number to hit, just like you did with colors.3. Instead of coloring the balls, simply use regular baseballs and have the tosser call out "high" or "low." By switching between the high and low ball, the hitter learns to adjust to high pitches when he was expecting a low pitch and vice versa.
Two Hand Bat
To hit the ball on a line to the opposite field, emphasizing the use of the top hand. A feeder sits in a chair behind an L-shaped screen about 10 feet away from the plate. A hitter stands at the plate in front of the screen, ready to hit. The feeder throws the ball on the outside of the plate to the hitter. The hitter hits the ball to the opposite field, emphasizing the use of the top hand. The hitter takes 10 to 12 swings before a new hitter steps in.
Hitting Fungoes
To develop proper hand action, weight shift, downward swing, and follow-through Players who are waiting on deck hit fungoes to the fielders on their side of the infield. Include up to four hitters in each of three hitting stations. Hitters rotate to the back of the line of another hitting station after taking a certain number of swings. After a complete rotation of the hitters through all three hitting stations, one line can rotate to the infield spots and the infielders can come in to bat. Concentrate on hitting the top half of the baseball with a short, downward swing.
Bounce in Front
To practice the hitting rhythm and the trigger and the learn to hit the ball at the top of the bounce. The partner stands six feet to the side and three feet in front of the batter and tosses a tennis ball that bounces up into the strike zone in front of the plate. As the ball bounces the batter "triggers" and gets her hands started into the swing. She waits until the ball is at the height of the bounce before swinging and driving it into a net.
Broomstick
To narrow your focus while grooving your swing. A feeder kneels about 10 feet away, just off your front knee. The feeder triggers your cocking action by dropping his hand just before flipping the plastic golf ball. Hit the ball with a broomstick or hit stick, driving the ball into the net. At first, make a smooth swing at about 90 percent normal bat speed to be sure to make contact. Concentrate on hitting the ball squarely. Maintain good balance, weight shift, hand action, and a sound finish.
Drop Toss
To develop hand speed for the ball. The batter assumes her stance with a partner facing her with the ball held at shoulder height. The batter tells the partner when to drop the ball. The partner releases the ball and pulls her arm up away from the strike zone. The batter takes a full swing. The partner can stand on a chair or on the bleachers, which will add a challenging tracking test.
Now you have a couple of new drills to spice up your practices

Game Outcome for April 21st 2009

Minors:

Dixie 4 win Fire balls Loss
Silver Storm win Angels Loss

Majors:

Fireballs Win Diamonds Loss
Yankees Win Red Sox Loss

Juniors:

Washington Win Lincoln Loss
*Lincoln Win Hurricane Loss

Hitting is hard. Even the greatest hitters in the world go into slump.
It's very technical and it's just plain hard to do.
Hitting a fast-moving ball with a stick is no walk in the park.
It's also very mental.
Anybody who has played, coached, or been around the gamea little knows how mentally tough hitting can be.
Confidence is, without a doubt, the most important part of the mental game.
In the following short video, I discuss the importance of"acting" confident to help you be successful at the plate.
http://www.softballperformance.com/blog/softball-hitting-tips-being-confident-at-phe-plate/
It's a very simple, yet powerful tip that you can start using today.
Check it out.

WE ARE GETTING STARTED!!

Anyone who missed Softball sign ups can still sign up on March 7th, between 10:00 and 12:00 PM. We will also be having some warm up activities for any of the girls that want a chance to get their cleats on and start working on their skills.

We will have some pitchers there to help any of the girls wanting to learn more about pitching
We will have some batting drills
We will have some fielding Practice
and some fun running drills...

See you at the Washington Fields....

If you have any questions You can call:

Sherry Andersen at 703-0186
Kelly Betts at 801-842-4400
Shannon Paxman 619-6169