The No Fun Tourney; Francis Howell Tournament

When even the game you win isn’t fun, or even competitive, you may begin to question whether this is the right tournament for your team. You might be able to learn a little from getting clobbered 15-0 by a superior opponent, buy you learn almost nothing (except how to be a gracious winner, perhaps) from winning 23-3 (and 3 of the 9 outs made by the opponents coming from deliberately leaving the base early). Even the third game, which could or should have been the most competitive, wasn’t, at least in part because the first two games didn’t prepare us for anything. (We lost to Timberland, 11-1; we’re better than that, but I don’t want to claim how much better.)

We dropped out of the Parkway Tournament a few years ago because we couldn’t compete with most of the teams. I think that has changed. Perhaps I’m being premature, because we have even played for the championship in the Francis Howell Tournament; perhaps the last two years have represented a bad run or draw. On the other hand, if I’m putting together my own tournament, I schedule my first game against a beatable opponent, and we’ve faced host Francis Howell the past two seasons, and they have been loaded. In previous years, when we had been successful, we found ourselves facing the defending champion. Maybe I am being paranoid, but remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they're NOT out to get you.

Still, the results were what they were, and it’s time to move on to our last week, a tough one, with a 10-6 composite record, and the Hancock Tournament ahead, where we are the defending champions. The box scores, such as they are, are below, with some pix by Amy Love.

    We will practice on Monday, have our last home game on Tuesday (Sophomore Day, although that designation means less than in other years, with only three sophomores who are already key starters), against Parkway West.

With apologies in advance (although I want to point out that the coaching staff is not subject to HIPA rules*), I’m going to share some statistics from last year (on the blog in the season summary) that I think are significant. Our captain, Hannah Love, played in only 17 of the 23 games last season, with only 37 plate appearances. Our lead pitcher, AnnaClaire Bryant, played in only 16 of the 23, with just 26 plate appearances. Even Maggie Pool, who was more of a starter last year, only saw action in 20 of the 23 and made it the plate just 48 times. Their response to their limited playing time was to go to work to get better and work hard during the off-season. Their reward: lots of time this year and an expanded role on and off the field. Coach Gibson is looking forward to their continued improvement and joining him on the Varsity Squad next year.

We are road warriors Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as we travel to Fox, Hazelwood West, and Marquette, respectively. All will be challenging games. Our final game will be at McCluer North,, Coach Poe’s alma mater (and a school that didn’t even exist when I did my student teaching up in Ferg-Flor) next Tuesday.

We are looking forward to the Hancock Tournament next weekend. We take advantage of the “Bat the Lineup” and “Free Substitution” rules, and use this tournament as a showcase event that gives our players a chance to show off their skills and their parents a chance to see the same. When we win the plastic, as we did last year, it’s a bonus.

We do NOT provide transportation to that tournament, based on the fact that some kids could get to Affton Athletic almost as quickly as they could get to the high school to take a bus. The first game starts at 8:00 a.m., the games are on a strict 1-hour 20 minute time limit, and we’ll be done by 12:30 at the latest. I would like the girls to be at AAA ready to warm up no later than 7:20, so they can help get the equipment to our first field, (Field #5, against Parkway South).

HIPA Joke of the Day: Knock knock; Who’s there?; HIPA; HIPA Who? Sorry, can’t tell you.