Each day during the WSSKBA State Cascade Tournament these past 4 days I would visit the games, the players, the fans and the umpires over in Kirkland.  I would ask myself the rhetorical question of what were the major differences between these top 8 teams and Redmond Select?

     The answer was simple: toward the end of the season...nothing.  However, compared to earlier in the year some answers came early on Friday as pitchers threw strikes early in the count and hitters were swinging early in the count.  This aggressive approach to a slow game is what every fan, parent, player, umpire and coach loves.  Not all teams fashioned this approach and they found themselves mired in the loser’s bracket early.  The infield defenses were quite impressive.  Head steady, footwork and positioning proper and eyes/chin down on grounders. Lateral position players effectively communicated.  Players knew their field assignments and cut-offs (prior to play) and executed.  I saw only one player show fear and tentativeness and his outcomes were poor.  The catcher's were very solid and could throw to 2nd base and move up the line with no runners.

     Saturday and Sunday's games were closer games, for the most part.  Again defense and pitching were pretty solid.  However by Sunday some squads did not have enough fresh arms nor the focus they showed earlier in the tournament.  These generalizations pertained to only some players and some squads but the better players and teams exhibited steadiness throughout the whole game.  I am reminded of a quote that puts this effort in perspective:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." –Aristotle

     However, only a few team-offenses could compare to the exciting hitters we had.  I saw nobody hitting over 270 ft compared with some of our ripped long line drives and our 320-375 foot shots.  However, not as many hitters struck out in the tournament.  This meant more tests for the defense and more chances for error. The better teams showed steady ability each inning throughout their games.

     In conclusion, we looked better than most squads offensively but less consistent with pitching and defense.  However we looked better in our weaker areas the past month.  Our outfielders and catcher's were warriors throughout most of the season and our infield defense showed more consistency.  One of the GREAT OLD COACHES OF yesteryear once said:

"Offense attracts crowds; Defense wins games."  -Bud Grant 1969

     Our fans, our parents and our support folks were fantastic throughout the year.  We all came from varied backgrounds and some with different learning styles.  As the season progressed we gained a sense of growing and maturing as unit.  In the end, we were a good squad and could play some decent baseball!  What struck me more toward the end of the season was the dugout was getting relaxed and the coaches grew to develop players more uniquely.  The optimal approaches to bring the best out of a player is a growing/learning process in any player/coach relationship.  Lastly the beauty of a developing squad is in these individual relationships and in the adaptation of the coaches to optimally potentiate -different learning curves, -player motivation and -skill sets; we are all different and we all must grow together!  This has been astutely pointed-out by my favorite past President of the United States: