First Game Coming Up

The JV will open its season at home on Wednesday, 4:15 at Plymouth Field. It promises to be the hottest day of the week. Spectators will want liquids and perhaps shade.

Our opponent will be the Ritenour (orange and black) Huskies. This is a team I always think we should be, but seldom do. It has usually been a competitive, if frustrating, game.

I'm pretty close to deciding on the starting line-up for Game 1, but the girls have done a good job of making that tough on me. My starting 9 or 10 on Day 1 has never been the same as at the end of the season. Every player's stock has risen during the practice weeks and I'm looking forward to giving them a chance to show what they can do during a game. We play Northwest at home on Thursday.

There are always two or three games designated as “Non-Starter Starts.” If someone special (e.g., grandparent, or other important relative) is making a special effort to get to a game, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to get your daughter at least an appearance. I was a benchwarmer and know how hard that is.

There will be a box score and often pictures posted, usually the evening (maybe late evening) after each game. I will generally post the tentative starting line-up an hour or so prior to the game. Line-ups are not official until submitted to the umpires.

Just a few housekeeping notes:

• Picture Day is Tuesday. Black tops, black pants.

• The girls decide which uniform to wear, more or less democratically. I'm not involved in that process. I strongly recommend the girls pack each uniform top.

• We ask parents and other spectators to not engage the girls in conversation during the game. This teaches them focus and to rely on each other (teamwork).

• We have a (relatively) short team debriefing in left field after home games to discuss and teach. We then clean up and put away gear. Last year parents jumped in to help with removing bases and raking the base areas and pitcher's slab, which was much appreciated and got the girls (and me) home faster.

• JV games can run long (and slow). Pitching and fielding is more erratic. Our girls are instructed that we do positive cheering only, including recognizing good plays by the other squad. We are competitive, we want to win, but we’re not playing for world peace. At this level, it’s about learning and improving. Given the attitude of the girls, we’re going to have a great season.

• There's a free iPad/iPod/iPhone (and probably Android, don't know) app called Game Changer for those who want to score along. It’s not completely intuitive, but I think I figured it out pretty quickly. I'm staying old school because I want faster access to previous plays. If you're interested, our roster is:

4-Emily Rapp             

5-Roschan Rao                 

6-Maggie Pool                

7-Kate Kazlauskus                

8-Erica Waelterman               

9-Paton Lamprecht

10-Hannah Leatherbarrow

13-Megan McClure                      

14-Brittany Hartung

15-Maia Langdon

16-Bekah Perman

19-Molly Kurtz

20-Hannah Love

25-Madi Powers

29-AnnaClaire Bryant

30-Sami Meyer