Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: The "Learning The Windmill" Story

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The "Learning The Windmill" Story

It was an ordinary day. Heading east on MD RT80 to watch our granddaughter, Courtney, play softball. It is her 3rd year of playing softball for Urbana, and every year she gets better. This year the girls are allowed to pitch instead of their coaches pitching for them. And, just not any style of pitching; the windmill style of pitching. Same as the girls in high school, college and the Olympics use where they start with both feet touching the rubber, rock back, bring their arm around in a clockwise rotation behind their body, and let it fly. For all of the girls it is their first time at trying to pitch using the windmill windup, so some have extreme difficulty with it. The league allows the offensive team girls to draw walks from the pitcher for four balls, but after two consecutive walks, the offensive teams coach has to throw 3 pitches to his own player if they would also draw a walk. If they fail to hit a pitch fair after 3 pitches, they are mercifully out. Make any sense to you? Took me a while to understand it, but it makes for a quicker game. Sometimes! At least the games are limited to two hours for 6 innings!! A few of the girls from both teams got very few balls across the plate. At times I though I was watching bowling instead of softball, as the girls did not have the strength to throw the ball across the plate from the pitchers circle. But, they have to try it to see if they can do it. And this is the level where they learn. Courtney's team had three girls that did a good job with the windmill delivery. One girl, a lefty, really impressed me with her delivery. More than 75% of the pitches were right down the center and with better than average speed. Found out later that her mother was a softball pitcher in college and had been working with her for a few years. Does make a difference. Courtney, who is very shy about trying to pitch since she doesn't like drawing attention to herself, struck the first batter out that she pitched to on four pitches. Great start. She did walk a few, but managed to strike out two other batters in her inning of work without allowing a run. Great job hon! One of the best performances of the day. The other team was much the same with a few good pitchers as well as a few who you can tell felt were so uncomfortable standing on the pitching rubber. Game lasted two hours with Courtney's Urbana Purple beating the home team, 10-6. I can see promise in quite a few of the girls, Courtney included. If Courtney would continue to pitch in the future, she would develop into a good high school pitcher. Whatever position she chooses for her future softball experiences, she will be one of the better players on the field. Did get to see her bat a half dozen times and she reached base every one of them, most with hits that went over the infield. My other granddaughter, Camille, Courtney's sister, helped me document the game with my camera. You just knew that would happen, didn't you. And the results follow. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Courtney #18 in her uniform.

The coach preparing the pitching rubber.

Courtney talking with her teammates. Notice the bags lined up on the fence. Most girls have these bags to hold their bat, gloves, snacks and helmets. The girls have their own helmets to eliminate the problem of lice transfering from one member to another. Yep, it really does happen!