"Purple" Eye!

The “pitching clinic” was exactly what the doctor ordered for my daughter. It was a tough evening for her which did continue as we warmed up at the clinic. We were playing catch as a warm up and the third throw from me to my daughter the softball glanced off her glove and hit her directly under the eye. Yes, that is correct I threw the ball and I did throw it a little harder than I should have because my daughter does have a very good arm and throws the ball hard (overhand that is) and I was just trying to keep up with her. Unfortunately for my daughter she did get her glove on the ball which allowed the softball to hit her squarely underneath her left eye. I thought she was going to cry but I think she was all cried out from the game and just had a very sad face.

I went directly towards her as the ball bounced off her face. I did my best to make her laugh telling her she was really having a horrible day which brought a semi-smile to her face. It was only a semi-smile because she said that it hurt to smile and it did appear the eye was swelling and she would have a black eye in the morning. Oh yes, it was a bad day but this bad day was about to get much better as the pitching coach came over to my daughter.

The pitching coach was great with her and also with me. He watched her throw a few pitches and after the pitches he gave an assessment. Apparently according to the pitching coach my daughter is “fundamentally sound” in her pitching motion and made a few minor adjustments with her foot placement. After he made the adjustments my daughter made some excellent pitches which brought a pain ridden smile to her face!!! It was almost instantaneous as her mood was lifted even as her eye started to swell. It was wonderful to hear that she was doing just about everything correctly and the fact that practice does make perfect. The pitching coach told me it takes about 25,000 pitches to become comfortable pitching a softball and my daughter has about 24,500 more to go.

The evening was salvaged for my daughter and I could tell she couldn’t wait for her next game so she could redeem herself. The pitching coach also made a very astute observation about my daughter saying “she is always thinking which is a good thing.” She is always thinking and is very analytical in her approach to just about anything (I wonder where that came from!!) and the wheels in her brain were certainly in motion. It was good to see her mood had been lifted and she did go to sleep feeling much better than previously in the evening.

Today brought my son’s game which would be a precursor of things to come for him. He had been hitting the ball very well hitting in six consecutive at bats. This ended today as he struck out in his first at bat but singled in the next two before striking out in his last at bat. He did have a good game but his team did lose for the third time this season. The other team was hitting the ball more often than our team which is unusual and our team wasn’t making the plays. These days happen and my son’s great attitude continued. He is such a great child and such a happy child. I do hope he continues this wonderful attitude all his life and I would see this great attitude exemplified later on in the week.

The game ended and the season is ending completion as well. It has been a great season being with my son and getting to know the players and parents on his team. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity and I do cherish these entire moments one at a time. Also; I would be remiss to report that my daughter’s eye had swelled but instead of a black eye she had more of purple eye instead. She did wear sunglasses to school hiding the eye but during her “share” she did recount the story of the game of catch with her Dad that caused the purple eye. I think she told this story for the benefit of her teacher who was quite the baseball player in his day and he was very impressed with the story.