FOR THE LADIES

I took Hunter, Ryan, and Samantha to the park last night to practice baseball and to throw a few pitches to them. Actually, I didn't throw any pitches to Samantha as that would just be silly - as she always seems to hit my curve ball so well. Anyway, I threw a couple of buckets of balls to Ryan and he did a pretty good job of hitting the ball. I had him hit from the left side and the right side of the plate to see which side he preferred - he hit equally well from both sides. So, I will just let him decide at his next game which way feels better for him. After Ryan, I threw a bucket of balls to Hunter. He missed every single ball. He has been such a great hitter the past couple of years that I could not figure out why he could not hit this year. So, I told him that he wasn't waiting for the ball and that he was lunging. I ran a couple of drills with him, but he would not listen to me and just wanted me to pitch. I told him that we could spend all night out here and I would throw him ball after ball and he would miss them all, or else we could spend 15 minutes learning how to hit. He was frustrated but finally agreed and he even listened to every word that I said. We did some drills together and then I had him hit another bucket of balls - but this time I told him that I did not want him to swing hard but that his focus was to hit every ball. He did that and made contact with most of the balls. I threw him another bucket of balls and told him to do the same thing. The next bucket of balls, I told him to swing harder - which he did but he made contact with 9 of the 13 balls. I threw another bucket at him and the first few he had some really good hits, then I saw him glance over to the playground, and all of the sudden he hit this shot that would have been over any right fielder's head. I couldn't beleive it as I have never seen him hit a ball that far. I asked him "Why are you hitting the ball so hard?" He said something to me but I couldn't hear, so I asked him to repeat it. He said he would tell me later. Anyway, the next 5 or 6 balls he just absolutely cranked into the outfield. As we were, picking up the balls I asked him what he said and he replied "I said I was doing if for the Ladies." I look over and there were two girls about his age over at the playground watching him hit. I couldn't stop laughing, but for the next few buckets of balls Hunter was hitting the ball hard and hitting 11-12 of the 13 balls from the bucket. I don't really care what his motivation is for hitting, but if he keeps on hitting like he did last night, then he can keep doing it 'for the Ladies.'