On March 9th my 13u Young Guns team ventured down to Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina. The drive was about 10 hours. Smooth sailing honestly. We were scheduled to play that morning at 8AM but there was a terrential downpour. I didn't think we had any chance of playing. The games were pushed back to 1PM and sure enough we played! The fields looked untouched. The fields are all turf by the way. One of the coaches down there explained to me that their drainage system is second to none. I was amazed. Some very nice people down there and I enjoy hearing "y'all."
So fast forward to our first game of the season. We played a phenomenal team from Florida who was 15-3 before we even played our first game. They rushed our warm up, so we couldn't get to the cages pregame. I will blame the loss on that. What a professional event though. Announcements, The National Anthem (still gives me chills and reminds me of my college games) and the most beautful fields I've ever seen. The fields honestly remind me of Coastal Carolina's field. Full stadium, huge dugouts, palm trees, and the fields are right on the water!
Saturday was a tough start going 0-2, but that put us in the Silver Bracket. I threw our Ace lefty pitcher Brody Helduser against a team from Maryland on Championship Sunday. Remember his name, he currently throws around 70-73 and just turned 13. Their coach was funny. He tried to use 3 DH's when we met at home plate. The umpire and I were not having any of that. We got our first win of the year in dominant fashion 12-3. Next game was the finals. We fell short but came in second in a tough bracket. Not bad for our first 4 games. Some cool silver medals too! Colton Foxhill (catcher) and Brendon Labar (short stop) made the all tournamnet team and were invited back to their All-Star game. Colton hit over .600 and Brendon made some of the nicest defenseive plays I've ever seen. Very impressive performance from those two especially this early in the season.
Now we are done for the day, and decided to head to downtown Charleston. I forgot to mention my wonderful girlfriend came with me, so now we got to enjoy some sight seeing. We started at the landmark known as the Battery, again right on the water. It's a beautiful park next to some of the nicest houses I've ever scene. From there we walked about a mile to one of the best views in Charleston at the Pavillion Hotel. All in all the trip was spectacular. Besides every coach hitting on my girlfriend every chance they could get asking her "which one is hers." I don't blame them. She's a STUNNING 24 year old ex-D1 softball player and currently models.
Getting out of the cold Northeast warehouse where we train to then being outside in gorgeous 70 degree sunny weather was a wonderful preseaosn experience. If you can ever get down to the Shipyard I highly recommend it.