fastpitch natalie

Natalie is on the 7th grade softball team at Garaway. Her first game was a couple weeks ago so this post is a bit over-due. The league they're in is for girls 14 and under. Natalie, because of when her birthday is, could have still played in the 12 and under league this year but instead, she's playing "up."

At the first game the other team had a pitcher who was flat bringin' it. Natalie was batting lead-off. And I'm thinking, oh man, how's she gonna catch up to that heat? Well I'll tell ya how she caught up to it...she spanked the first pitch of the game over the first baseman's head for a solid base hit.

On her second at-bat she grounded out hard to the shortstop. The third time up, well, Leslie Yoder got a nice shot of what happened the third time up:

Yep. She got plunked by the flame-thrower. You can see the ball on its way to the ground after it drilled her in the side of her butt. Yeah...it left a mark...but she scored later...and had to slide at home, leaving a matching mark on her other butt cheek.

They lost the game...but they've picked up the pace recently, winning each of their last two contests.

And just for good measure, here's a pic of Natalie pitching in the same game:

It's so much fun to watch her play.