son got his first inning of work this past Friday in a scrimmage against a 5A team, after being delayed to join the team due to swim season. Struck out 2, one fly out. 10 pitches.

I was out of town, but my friend said he's never seen him pitch better. Swimming has definitely made him much stronger.

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Staying in the on-deck area during warm ups- I assume that applies to both warm ups of a pitcher who has been in the game between innings and when a new pitcher comes into a game.

That is a good point. I have seen a pitcher knock down a hitter who was too close when the pitcher came into the game and was warming up. The umpire refused to move the hitter farther from the batter's box. The pitcher was ejected before throwing a pitch in the game.

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yes, at all times. It's easy to enforce by telling the batter to stay in his dugout area/circle.

It's tournament season!

A few things to know...we will use speed up rules so catchers and pitchers will almost always have a courtesy runner; we're on a time limit/drop dead schedule so if it seems umpires are keeping the game moving, we are; some games will have a 10 run rule after 4 and an 8 run rule after 5.

Enjoy the games this weekend

Pearland tourney this weekend - weather should be great.

Missing all day Thursday (2 games) and getting out at 11:00 am Friday plus a game Saturday. Bad scheduling. A lot of the team already out with the flu.

Friday is a late start day, so one class. Lots to make up.

On the bright side, the boy is a starting pitcher.

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The "inside the dimensions" was supposed to be a point of emphasis last year too and it never got called. We shall see!

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So do you umpire hs baseball?

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I do. What area are you in?

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Centex chapter. I live in marble falls

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Good to know. I am in the Houston chapter but have also worked in the College Station chapter.

Son's first official game was cancelled due to rain earlier this week, so tonight is his first official high school game. We are playing in the Barbers Hill JV tournament, and our first game is against the Kingwood sophomore team (I think). It's gonna get chilly when that sun goes down.

First game today started @ 10am with not a cloud in the sky and with the temperature n the 50's. What a glorious day for baseball!

Have 2 more games today, 3pm and 5:30pm.

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First game today started @ 10am with not a cloud in the sky and with the temperature n the 50's. What a glorious day for baseball!

Have 2 more games today, 3pm and 5:30pm.

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My 3pm game was interesting as Lance Berkman was the head coach and his starting pitcher was a kid named Pettitte. The team's pitching coach was Andy Pettitte.

Pretty cool experience

That's pretty cool, ABATT. Aren't they at Second Baptist?

First official game in the books for my son. He got the start against Kingwood Sophomores and pitched very well - 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. The ER was on a brain-fart balk with runners at first and third. Coach called a 3rd to 1st move and for some reason, my boy started it like an inside move to second. He said he just brain farted and we laughed it off. His team lost the game 4-1 with some early season mistakes, but they competed well. I was proud of my son and his team. Tomorrow we play College Park and Barbers Hill, which should both be tough games.

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First game today started @ 10am with not a cloud in the sky and with the temperature n the 50's. What a glorious day for baseball!

Have 2 more games today, 3pm and 5:30pm.

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My 3pm game was interesting as Lance Berkman was the head coach and his starting pitcher was a kid named Pettitte. The team's pitching coach was Andy Pettitte.

Pretty cool experience

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I had these guys a few times last year. In one of the Pettite started and was dominant.

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In one of the Pettite started and was dominant.

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He was dominant yesterday.

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That's pretty cool, ABATT. Aren't they at Second Baptist?

First official game in the books for my son. He got the start against Kingwood Sophomores and pitched very well - 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. The ER was on a brain-fart balk with runners at first and third. Coach called a 3rd to 1st move and for some reason, my boy started it like an inside move to second. He said he just brain farted and we laughed it off. His team lost the game 4-1 with some early season mistakes, but they competed well. I was proud of my son and his team. Tomorrow we play College Park and Barbers Hill, which should both be tough games.

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I played HS ball with College Park's HC, Jason Washburn. Really good guy (and Ag) if you have a chance to meet him.

Son got three innings vs Alvin today (who won their district last year and are already 6-0 this year). Went 3 innings, 30 pitches, gave up 1 ER, 1H, 1BB, 2K. BB came back to bite him. But overall it was a nice outing against a quality team that will be in the 6A playoffs.

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That's pretty cool, ABATT. Aren't they at Second Baptist?

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Yes; playing in the Marble Falls tournament

Hecubus - how is the new westlake baseball coach doing? Does the community seem to like him? Just curious.

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Missing all day Thursday (2 games) and getting out at 11:00 am Friday plus a game Saturday. Bad scheduling. A lot of the team already out with the flu.

Friday is a late start day, so one class. Lots to make up.

On the bright side, the boy is a starting pitcher.

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Were you at Cedar Park Saturday vs Lubbock Coronado?

J T Blair is well liked. There appears to be lots of new energy and interest in the program. I was not familiar with the old coach, but grumbling there was. Those grumblers appear very happy with Blair. Our son has him for a class and says he's a lot of fun. I don't know how much he interacts with the freshman baseball team, if any. They should be able to do some good with this massive freshman class.

Ours got the stomach flu, and started hurling at 2 am Wednesday until 10 am. He only made the Saturday game at Vista Ridge as a spectator from the dugout.

Anderson had a great pitcher (#23) Saturday.

Great game against Anderson tonight. 10 - 7 final with some great pitching from the starters, 1 - 1 after three innings. Then a nice finish by the closers after some sloppy innings. Game was called due to time after the lead off walk for Westlake in the 7th. The first non tournament district game is in the books and it's a "W".

I think that was the Varsity. Ours is a skinny 14 year old freshman on the JV2 team.

Son got the win in relief against PNG last night - 1.1 inning no runs, no hits. Then came back and got tagged with the loss in relief against Deer Park (3 innings, 2 ER). Hit a batter in the 7th who was moved around with a sacrifice bunt, fc, and scored on a single for a one run victory for DP. Still he faced two very good teams from SE Texas and looked good on the mound. Proud of him.

FYI - DP has a heck of a pitcher in Cameron Thompson (San Jac signee). Best pitcher I've seen so far this year - three pitches including a plus fastball and breaking ball.

0.0 ERA ~2Ks/inning and a sub 1 WHIP against the three best teams they've seen in a weird combination of relief and closing, 3 and 2/3 innings total. Too bad he missed his start with the stomach flu the first tourney and lost his second start when they pulled two kids down from JV1 for a tournament. The team is a mess, so it's more politics than baseball, not fun.

Quick update on my son's season: the team has played bigger schools throughout the predistrict schedule. Mostly 5A's, but we did face Kingwood's (6A) sophomore team in the Barber's Hill tournament. The team has competed well and is 4-4 so far. We should be well-prepared for district play against fellow 4A teams, but more importantly, playing "up" is preparing these younger kids for the future.

My son is about 4th or 5th in batting average so far, and he's been hitting the ball hard to all fields. I couldn't ask for much more of him at the plate right now.

He's leading the team in innings pitched and has a sub-1 ERA and sub-1 WHIP. His pitching has been really fun to watch. I was in Miami last week for work, so I missed 4 of his games, and in the game he pitched on Friday morning he pitched a complete game, one hitter. The one hit was on the last batter before the drop-dead rule was called and according to him, it was a pretty hard hit grounder to short that took a bad hop. So, if we revert to the last inning under a drop dead rule, it was "technically" a no hitter. LOL

It's been a lot of fun so far, and he's getting good coaching from what I can tell. If he was on the lower JV team, it might be different because I don't think they get as much attention from the staff. That would definitely frustrate me, and I'd be a lot like HECUBUS. I'm sorry that you're dealing with the politics. It'll get better next year when the coaches actually pay attention and care.

I'm hoping you're right and congratulations sounds like fun!

I paint a bleak picture because it has been disappointing. I expect it will be the same for many making this transition. But, It's more adversity under the bridge. If it was perfect, I doubt the boy would have learned as much about the mental part of the game. He is enjoying baseball which is the same as being happy with improvement, or playing well. He used to hate closing and relief duty. He did get the last two outs with K's in the lone district game, entering with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out. Now it doesn't matter how or when he's called on to pitch. He's fully recovered from the injury that prevented batting for more than six weeks and is getting his stroke back with a new 33" bat.

He is having fun and has adjusted to the situation well. It's not been the same for others. It doesn't mean his parents are going to stop being crazy. I don't think that's possible. I still hate the divide in the locker room and the politics, but I trust the kids will figure it out on their own.

Ha! No matter what I set out to say, it comes out the same. Crazy I am. I can't seem to edit that part out...d8) I've made many attempts. Early game today, I will do my best to refrain from therapeutic posting later. Most likely only 23 kids making the trip today. There I go again...d8) Not possible.

His grades have not taken a hit. He is learning to play hard in his limited free time. The mental game of R&R is just as important, if not more so.

One for one with a two RBI single, a walk, two bases on wild pitches a run scored and snagged a fly ball in right. Not much action tonight and no pitching. They played maybe 16 kids.

Hecubus - where did this Diego Chapas kid come from? He seems to be the main reason the varsity is winning district games this season.

There's a Diego Cruz and a Fernando Chapa pitching on the varsity. I saw that Cruz got the complete game win last night. He's been at Westlake, saw that he was JV in 2013 on the website. I know a few older brothers and one kid down the street who play varsity, but not many.

We've got a DH in Austin on Friday morning and afternoon. Sure hope this rain passes by then. Hard to make up road conference games

There goes your half a day off Spring Break. Got tickets to the ATM sip game and no game scheduled, yet...

The rain is reeking havoc on the schedule down here in Houston.

rained out in Austin for tomorrow. Glad - didn't want to fight the rain and the I-10 West 5:00 traffic tonight, or the SXSW and Obama traffic tomorrow.

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rained out in Austin for tomorrow. Glad - didn't want to fight the rain and the I-10 West 5:00 traffic tonight, or the SXSW and Obama traffic tomorrow.

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Yes, be thankful you're not driving into Austin tomorrow....it's gonna be hell around here...