What has been your greatest memory so far

one of many

A couple of years ago we were playing in the big nsa tourn. in salisbury, we were the older attitude team and had alot of talented players. We won our first two against the copperheads and the curve white and played the the cape fear storm late that night [ about 32 deg. ] it was 0-0 thru 7 and went two tie breakers.My dd has always been known for her contributions on the mound but not so much with her bat, there were 2 outs and we had a girl on 3rd and my dd came up, they changed pitchers and the count was 1-1 I was trying to figure out a way to get the girl on 3rd home when, from out of nowhere, my dd hit one off the center field fence to score the winning run. There have been many proud moments watching her pitch but this night would have to be one of the best. The smile on her face said it all. Remember ndsb10, what a team.

 

memory

I once had a girl tell me she probably wouldn't be playing in high school if it wasn't for the coaching I gave her in rec ball.

Makes ya feel good to hear that.

 

Ed I agree. That day at the field was one to remember. I probably have coached in over 700 ball games since that day (including state and national championship games), and I would be hard pressed to remember two teams that played any harder on every pitch. I remember big play after big play from both teams and one the best part about he game was that the coaches didn't get in the way of the girls by trying to "over coach" We let'em play and they gave us two great games.

When I see some of those Carolina Stars players (they all are in college now) they also remember that day and the battles we had against the Fear that summer.

 

When my DD was 6....

....and the game was coach pitch, all defense was geared to the ground ball, My DD was at 1st on defense, and here comes the ol texas leaguer popup her way. Well, the ball goes right through her attempt to catch it and smacks her dead in the nose. Not alot of blood, but pure terror from the mamas. I looked her in the face and said " hey babe, you just took one in the nose and, you tell me, does hurt? Is this something to cry about?" Well, against my wifes opinion, ol DD wiped her nose, and YEP, the next ball came right at her. She made the play and I think that this particular situation may have helped mold her growing up period.

 

3 moments

There are 3 moments that really stand out in my memory. The first involves my son and the other 2 my DD. My son was one of those baseball players that really had to put in his time at the field to make significant progress. Every year from Coach-Pitch on up he would make the Rec-league All-star team that would go play tournament ball in the summer. Each year it got tougher and tougher for him. When he was either 12 or 13 he really had to put in the work to make all stars. He made it through the final cuts and then we found out that they had changed the date for the age cut off and he missed the date by about 6 weeks. He was devastated and the next year he quit baseball completely. It's one of those things that no matter what we said he refused to play. We honored his decision and now today at 23 years old he still has that same work ethic with everything he does.

The first with my DD is not Softball related but it does involve ball sports. She played Rec-League Soccer for years before settling down and concentrating on Softball. She always wanted to play goalie even though I wanted her to be a forward or something to help with her conditioning in softball. Anyway, she played in a co-ed league and the boys in this one league were really rough on the girls on her team. In two previous games this one kid had literally knocked two of our girls down and fractured their arms. The second one he hurt he stood over the girl screaming with the broken arm and called her a p@#$&*. The parents on our team wanted to just forfeit the last game we were supposed to play against this team it was so bad. The coaches decided to play anyways and the game was pretty rough. My DD was in goal and the roughneck kid was on a break away, with only my daughter in front of him. (Did I mention that my DD although not all that big is built like a concrete median.) Well this kid decides he's going to run right through my DD and punch the ball into the net. They collide with him running nearly full steam and I cringed when they hit. After she knocked him to the ground she picked the ball up punted it down field they scored and won the game. I was ecstatic!!!!! Our entire team parents, players, coaches and probably even the referees cheered when the kid went down. Luckily the only thing hurt on him was his pride. After that Soccer season my DD stuck to softball.

The second one was just as scary as the first. My DD was playing 3rd Base in her 1st season with a new 12-U team and they had really been struggling. We had to play the Rowan Flames and those girls were so big they looked like they drove to the field themselves. (Did I mention my daughter is fearless too?) The Flames are up to bat and this ginormous young lady comes up to hit and hits a line shot down the 3rd base line. My DD dives for it and it hits her in the head and actually spins her around when it hits. It also sounded as bad as it looked. Eveyone just held their breath because they knew she had to be hurt. The 3rd base coach from the Flames even ran over to her thinking she was hurt bad. She jumped up, and dusted herself off like nothing ever happened. The coach from the Flames was even shocked that she wasn't hurt. I guess that melon of hers is a hard as concrete too!! Maybe that's why I have such a hard time getting through to her.:bash:

 

These are some great, great memories. I have really enjoyed them....keep them coming!

 

Great stories coach cragan...

I know exactly what you mean about the DD's being tuff! My DD would give most HS Blockers a run for their money! She has always been a LOT bigger than any of the girls her age!
Just goes to prove, GIRLS have what it takes!! I have often wanted to name a fastpitch team "Babes with Balls" But no everyone says that is wrong! Sissies! LOL

 

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Agreed, Tony Author (cfball) had that Carolina Fear team playing well.