Billy and Katie are on the same coach-pitch baseball team: the Orange Dragons. Their first game was yesterday evening. Billy is a solid player and has last year’s machine pitch experience to build upon. Plus boys naturally like to play with balls and bats. I’m not being sexist; this is merely based on observing two girls with older brothers who will set up “house” or “school” with each other and friends and their stuffed animals and dolls in the same yard where the boys are assembled wearing their favorite team colors as they try to decide whether the Cincinnati Marlins will play the Washington Braves or the Atlanta Nationals.
Peter, who is not yet three, has played more ball than my girls.
So, I was concerned that Katie would be like most girls I see who play ball and are clearly one of the weakest members. It’s not that I want her to be a great player. But I want her to have fun. And she won’t have any fun if she can’t hit the ball. And one bad season could make her unwilling to try again the following year.
Happily, I watched her get a hit each of the three times she batted. She was forced out at third one time, but she was able to score the other two times. Good for her! She was clearly pleased with her ability.
Now I just need to work on her fielding ability.
What remains to be seen is if her enthusiasm continues post-season. But I’m willing to bet that the dolls and the tea sets will once again dominate her time come June.
Reit This Way 
I KNOW that your boys know that the Marlins are not from Cincinnati! Michelle!I could never field a ball well — too afraid of getting it in the face!
Sure, Barb. But those are the team names they come up with when 4 or 5 or 6 boys show up and each has a different hat with a different team logo!
Oh, Barb, you have to remember that I live among military families, so every house has different loyalties. I’m sure in your neck of the woods, most kids are Reds or Indians fans.
My brother played with a little girl that did fine at practice and just totally froze up at games. Finally, her brother payed her a dollar for every base she got to. That girl could play!Good for Katie.I think the thing I miss the most about living on base is having access to enough kids to always have a pick up game.
My daughter played T-Ball for one spring season when she was four. She was the classic “girl” player. She picked dandelions in the outfield and chatted with her friends on the opposing team as they ran the bases. There was just too much standing around time for her. The next fall we started her in soccer. Totally different outlook. This was her game. She has had a passion for it ever since and will play college soccer next fall. The three boys all played both baseball and soccer for a while but eventually all three settled on just soccer.
Gotcha — I thought were pulling one over on us!