Season starts on Monday. We will have tryouts in both baseball and softball and just might have record numbers trying out for both. We are to be in the mid 50s but have had right at 5 inches of rain this week. It just stopped raining in our area. Good luck to everyone with tryouts. As a coach, I hate it. I find it hard to tell a young person that they can't play and yet, I understand why it has to be done. In softball, we only have 22 uniforms for both teams and so will have to cut some players that can play. I've never understood why softball only gets 22 uniforms.
How are things going so far? We are inundated with rain. We had right at 6 inches in 3 days. We have not been able to be on an infield yet. To this point, we have only been outside 3 times. Today will be no different as we had rain during the night and then more rain and falling temperatures this afternoon. In fact, there is the possibility it will start as snow. I know some of you up North have been hammered with winter storms.
In talking yesterday with some of the baseball boys, they are excited here at Triad. They are very young but have a couple of quality seniors. IMO, they are a year away from being real good. They need another quality starter.
This weekend, we have rain in the forecast again. For us, softball, we are going to have our parent's meeting no matter what. Last year was the first time since I have coached that we didn't have a parent's meeting. It didn't go well. I'll leave that at that.
Hope to hear back from some of you!
We're in Northern Illinois and just finished tryouts, been outside 4 times, first games will be over spring break down south. Fortunately ESPN3 allows us to catch college games to get our fixx!
Kids where out at least twice during tryouts, and one day they could have gotten out was a 5:00 am practice, so no sun. But now some melting snow and rain -- 30ish. First game set for 3/17. Hope everything is ready.
Our team (Northern suburbs of Chicago) just finished tryouts. Don't play until mid-March. It snowed today...
Believe me, I’ve got plenty of empathy remembering early “spring” and trying to get outside. But, I’m also jealous because you’re still doing it and helping the players. I hope you all can enjoy better weather and a successful season.
Got to love the midwest for Spring Baseball and uncertain weather. My son's team has been fortunate to have at least 4 outdoor practices on the field. He also had a inter-squad scrimmage last Saturday. Now we have snow on ground. He has 4 games scheduled next week, but we will see. Forecast looks promising....but not holding my breath.
Have only been on football turf a couple times. Not once on field. First games next Saturday in Edwardsville, so we are gearing up for that. Doing everything we can inside with pitching, hitting, situations, hitting live off pitchers in cage, etc. Frustrating.
James, how did your team do in Edwardsville. I drove by there but was on a mission to get something and could not stop in.
My HS is off to a atypical start and is giving up a lot of runs. They have been beaten twice by big scores. It is a long season so there is more than enough time to right the ship.
Our team may play its first game tomorrow if the ground isn't frozen since it will be a balmy 41...
CoachB25 posted:James, how did your team do in Edwardsville. I drove by there but was on a mission to get something and could not stop in.
My HS is off to a atypical start and is giving up a lot of runs. They have been beaten twice by big scores. It is a long season so there is more than enough time to right the ship.
Brutal. Lost 5-2 and 4-1. Two big innings cost both games. For how cold it was and playing for first time, the pitching and defense overall was a plus for us. Could not hit whatsoever. Lots of Ks and LOB . Also lost our best hitter for many weeks with a fractured thumb.
Had a great time though. Super impressed with the Edwardsville facilities.
Here is an article from the Belleville News Democrat about the "Top 10 Prospects" in our area:
http://www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/article205539329.html
Naturally, there are a lot of players in our area that are pretty good that are not on this list.
I'll say this -- It's freaking cold. Played two games so far, both started low/mid 40's and ended up 30 something. Still frozen.
Played first game last week "real feel" temp was 26. Froze my toes off. To make matters worse we lost 2-1 in walk off fashion. Today we get sun and 47 feels like bathing suit weather in comparison.
Our school in in the Fox Valley conference (home of the state champs our rival) have been out for a couple weeks..Dry weather but definitely a bit cold, but have sat in worse. We are also going to Marion as Golfman noted. Team started well 2-0, although kid, not so much. Told him trust yourself and your abilities. Keep your head up. He is a senior and is my last baseball player. Committed, then uncommitted to an out of state school, as mom and dad feel his grades don't justify a 4 year school. He will most likely go to the local community college, however the team is extremely competitive who recruits D1 talent as Fresh and soph. We'll see what the future holds for him. Going to enjoy this last ride if that is what it is. Good luck and blessing to all!
We play today. A huge rain area is on radar west of us. As it stands now, the team we play will get headed this way and at game time, it is going to open up. I hate that when it happens.
Update, it poured!!! We have standing water everywhere. Between Monday and Tuesday, we are to get 3 more inches of rain.
It has rained all day today and, as a lot of you know, I am coaching softball now. We had a great practice today. We funneled hitters in in groups of 4. Front toss in half of the cage and a machine in the other half. Varsity only and each group was in for 40 minutes. It was one of the best and most intense practices we have had. I got to do a lot of coaching of the hitters. To a player, they asked if they could do more practices like this.
We had two games in suburban Chicago last week. Won both. Now in Vero Beach, Fl to get them ready for conference play. Weather beautiful here!
We now have rain in the forecast for 7 of the next 10 days. Unbelievable. Maybe we can use a nerf ball and play inside a gym.
We are finally able to get some games in. Some of the area teams are off to great starts. Naturally, O'Fallon, Belleville East, and Edwardsville are really good year in and year out. Valmeyer is a small Class A school that is tearing it up. They have a stud pitcher. My school is hovering around .500 but is starting to turn the corner. They played CBC from St. Louis which is always a baseball power and were winning when I left the park.
As I mentioned, I am coaching softball now at the JV level but actually doing the hitting. The JV and Varsity practice together. Right now, we are averaging 7+ runs a game. We can hit the ball.
I finally can answer the question - "What happened to the Illinois forum?"
it was rained out.
KilroyJ posted:I finally can answer the question - "What happened to the Illinois forum?"
it was rained out.
Ain't that the truth. I know things where already scheduled for the state playoffs, but it would have been nice if they extended out the season a week so we could finish. We are still stacked up.
Golfman25 posted:KilroyJ posted:I finally can answer the question - "What happened to the Illinois forum?"
it was rained out.
Ain't that the truth. I know things where already scheduled for the state playoffs, but it would have been nice if they extended out the season a week so we could finish. We are still stacked up.
We have been playing almost every day. We finished tonight just before a severe storm blew in and I mean blew. All heck has broken out around here. The state tournament is set in many ways but including hotels etc. so it has to go on schedule.