West Cocoa Chat

I want to thank Josh Stump (http://www.stumpedblog.blogspot.com/) for his kind comment concerning my last post about Steven. For the first time in a while he does seem to “get it” when it comes to staying within himself when it comes to his hitting. I think there are 2 reasons why he is doing such:
1. He believes in our new Coaching Staff and they believe in him.
2. He’s been frustrated with the gap between what we know his ability to be and inconsistent play. All of his really came together last night in our game against Winter Park in the Palm Bay Pre-Season Classic.

Winter Park is a huge 6A school in Orlando. Several thousand kids make up their student body. We’ve played Winter Park for several years now in Pre-Season Tournaments and have never come close to beating them. Here’s a name for you, their short-stop’s name was Dante Bichette. Yes, that’s the son of Colorado Rockies player Dante Bichette who hit .340 in 1995 with 40 home runs and 128 RBI’s. In my best “Dick Vitale voice,” that’s pedigree baby. So, what did we do against this perennial 6A powerhouse?

We won 6 to 5! What did Steven do? He hit a single, a double, and a triple with 3 RBI’s. He also played 2nd-base, short-stop, and then he closed out the game with 2 strikeouts and a ground-out to short. It was a magical game with everything coming together for him against a tough opponent.

To say that I’m proud of all of that would be an understatement but I’m even more proud of some other things I observed. We had to start a freshman last night at 3rd-base and then he moved to 2nd and another freshman came in at 3rd. I noticed Steven encouraging these 2 young kids. He gave direction as well as joked with them in an attempt to calm their young nerves down. True leadership is making those around you better.

Yes, it was a good night in Palm Bay. We head back to Palm Bay to play another 6A powerhouse, University High School on Saturday. Sorry about all of the “Papa-bragging.” Have a good weekend family.