Weekend Touranaments In Columbus

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Although we weren't able to be down in Ohio to watch our nieces play softball this weekend, @mrsbozz and I were there in spirit as we watched the streams of the games from home. It was actually a really busy weekend as my younger niece played eight games this past weekend and her older sister played six.

As you know, I have been covering the Lasers Scarlet team quite a bit so far this year. They are a great group of young ladies that bring a lot of fun and energy to the field. Their coach is pretty awesome and the type of guy that I think anyone would want for a coach.

I think I have only ever seen him get mad once about a call. Usually he just takes everything in stride and pushes the ladies to do their best and always improve. My younger niece is really blessed to have found this team!

They started the weekend off pretty rough dropping their first two games on Friday morning. The first one was a 5 to 11 loss and then the second one was a 3 to 5 loss.

I guess they just needed a little bit of time to wake up because their third game they won 5 to 4. On Saturday morning, they tied their first game and then went on to win their second game 14 to 0. Finally, their third game of Saturday was another offensive showcase with them winning 12 to 2.

With pool play out of the way, they started bracket play on Sunday.

They won their first game 7 to 4, but then dropped their second game with a heartbreaking 12 to 13 loss. It was raining pretty hard in the last game and they had to postpone it for a time. I think that ended up hurting them in the end. It was looking like they were going to win the game for a short time there.

My niece was a little disappointed with her performance at the plate this weekend, but she had some really great defensive plays that helped keep her team in the game. I hope she can get her bat going again soon before she gets too in her own head about her hitting. She doesn't need that negativity.

My older niece had a pretty rough go of it this weekend, but I think she had fun and that is all that matters. You have to remember, they just kind of threw this team together. I don't think they were even supposed to play this weekend, but another team dropped out and so a spot opened for them in the tournament.

This team is composed of former high school friends who now either don't play softball at all or play for different universities. They also reached out and pulled in a few players whom they have never played with before. Just to fill out the roster. In fact, one of those players was @a4xjeeper's niece from Michigan. She made the trip down to play on the team with them and she enjoyed it so much she wished she had done it sooner.

They started action on Friday afternoon and lost their first game 2 to 7. Their second game saw them fall short 4 to 9. Finally, their third game of the night was a 1 to 9 loss. Remember what I said, they just kind of threw this team together. They had zero time to practice. They were facing teams who have been playing together for years and had multiple practice sessions leading up to this weekend.

As I also mentioned, several of the players on the team stopped playing softball after they graduated high school. That means it has been close to 10 months since they last picked up a bat.

Saturday they started the day with a 4 to 5 loss before heading into their second game and losing 1 to 2. Those close losses are a win in my opinion. It shows they were starting to gel as a team and learn where their strengths and weaknesses are.

Finally, they ended the day (and weekend) with a 1 to 9 loss.

I have little doubt the next time they get together to play they are going to do much better. I can just feel it.

Tonight, I get to go watch my nephew play his first baseball game, and I found out the other day that my youngest niece made a travel soccer team, so starting in August I will likely be going down to watch her play a game or two.

It's great to see all of my younger nieces and nephews be so involved and active in sports. I am sure the skills they learn now will help them later in life.

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Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced