Day 22

Another day, another camp game. I was in line for a potential day off from camp games, but I was an alternate for the second game and ended up having to work again. I'm one of the few, possibly the only one, who has had 5 games already. The craziest thing that got thrown at us was an issue with injuries and trips to the mound, but that was while I was over behind first and I wasn't involved at all, even though the instructor who was playing first base was trying to get me to jump in (clearly a trap). So while my partner messed that up, I stood by and watched, even as he ejected the manager. They also tried to trick us into calling balks on almost every play. We didn't call any, but they did succeed in having me be so focused on the pitcher that I only turned my head when he made a pickoff throw instead of stepping, then turning. I still technically made the right call, but I'll work on getting the footwork right next time. During my plate inning, I had a ball go out of play on an overthrow on a bases loaded hit to the outfield. I awarded the bases so quickly and thoroughly (scoring the runners who had already scored, like I'm supposed to) that apparently almost everyone (fellow students) watching thought I did it wrong at first. I inadvertently confused my partner with this as well, but he got over it. As for making my presence on the field bigger, I tried out the taller, wider mechanics and didn't get any complaints on that. One other thing that I'll be working on is making my steps more aggressive so that it looks like I'm working harder. As a runner, and a fairly efficient one at that, the idea of unnecessary motion isn't at all natural, but if that's what I have to do, then I'll do it.

We have our last written test tomorrow other than the final and possible pop quizzes, so I've got some more studying to do tonight.

And one thing I forgot to mention from last week: They started mixing in some "Good job" comments with the "Not a bad job" comments. This is encouraging.