What We've Been Up to Lately, Part 3

Although Danielle chose not to play school volleyball this year, she has been keeping busy training for softball. She is still taking hitting lessons once a week. She is also going to a strength, agility, and quickness class twice a week. The class is taught by someone who played football at the Ohio State University and for the NFL. It is hard work, but she really enjoys it. It should help her be ready for track when that season rolls around again, too.

Last weekend she had 2 tournaments. I couldn't go to her tournament on Saturday because I had to transport Tyler to the school for his band show. She played center the whole day, but not many balls made it her way. She lead the team in hitting for the day. They lost in the semi-finals. If I had to miss a tournament, I'm glad it was that one because the tournament on Sunday was so exciting!!

Danielle played short for a couple innings but spent most of the day at center. She had another great day batting, but it was her fielding that was so fun to watch! One of the parents uses a gopro to record the games. His daughter is a catcher, so putting it right behind the backstop gets most of the action for them. We got some video footage from it, which Ron compiled into a short highlight clip, but it is much harder to see the centerfielder. It is better than nothing, though, so here it is:

The double play was awesome because she was still in the grass but her throw to the catcher was spot on. The very last catch in the video was awesome not only because it was a pretty good hit but also because it was hit by a school ball teammate and that was that girl's only out all day. :) The other two catches, though. Oh my goodness. I so wish I had been taking video. I was sitting across from the outfield and had a much better perspective. In the third clip, the ball looked like it was going to be way past Danielle - definitely an in-the-park homerun. Danielle took off at an angle and at the last possible second, when it looked like there wasn't a chance she was going to get it, she leapt into the air, stretched out her arm, and snagged that ball right out of the air. It. Was. Amazing. And then the very next out she gets by making a sliding catch and almost makes a double play. It was a great catch, too. [Both catches (and her hitting/base running) were so good, in fact, that the opposing team's coach sought us out later in the week to see if Danielle might be interested in joining their team for a national tournament next summer.] We ended up coming in second in that tournament, but it didn't matter. Our team played well, Danielle played great, and it was a beautiful day for watching softball. I certainly felt like I won. :)

Here are some pictures from Sunday: