Young slugger Maeve stepped up to the T-ball plate several times at Perry League’s most recent game on Friday, July 12. Her big league confidence at bat sent the ball flying off the tee. (Submitted photo)
Rogue sounds in Perry League play
- Published: August 7, 2024
Two weather-related concerns created some uncertainty about our ability to play T-ball last Friday, July 12. The first issue was the omnipresent heat. High temperatures combined with high humidity had gripped the area for a series of days, putting heat index numbers near triple digits — a legitimate risk to safe play. The second was a common threat this time of year: a late afternoon pop-up thunderstorm. Thankfully, neither came to pass. Although we did have a light shower just before game time, the rain helped calm the usually dusty, dry field, and surely improved the heat index. The humidity level continued to be elevated, but T-ball must go on! We sweat and get dirty, but have so much fun!
We knew it was time to play when kids migrated from the Gaunt Park pool to the ball field.
Jaxon was the first kid to bat. Dad Logan provided some instruction and coaching to his earnest 3-year-old, then moved to first base where he was a fantastic First Base Encourager for the evening. After a nice hit, Jaxon followed Dad to first base, and then left him to circle the remaining bases.
Soon after it was Jaxon’s sister Indie’s turn to bat. After we agreed that her little brother was a cutie, Indie, 7, added that when he is mad, “he does this,” showing me a furrowed brow and pouty lips. We laughed and again agreed that, even when mad, Jaxon is cute. Indie then wound up the bat, hit nicely off the tee and ran off to visit her dad at first base.
This evening, a number of kids were seen using some major league batting warm-up tactics at the plate — from pumping the bat up and down before swinging, to winding the bat in the air, to lateral practice swings so eyes, ball and bat were aligned. Finley, 6, had an especially interesting batting warm-up that was reminiscent of baton twirling. Char-Char, 5, pumped the bat up and down excitedly before taking her swing. All of these methods proved effective and awfully fun to watch.
Jo, 4, eagerly came up to bat wearing rather new-looking white batting gloves and carrying his own beautiful, shiny, turquoise-colored bat. As he stepped up to hit, the sun in the west was shining through the trees and Jo’s pale blonde curls. Pow! He connected solidly with the ball, and set off toward first base. He was diverted, however, distracted by the attraction of retrieving the ball he just hit, then attempting to pick up the ball at the same time as another T-baller, resulting in a mini-collision. Both kids were OK, thankfully. They dusted off and continued to play.
Later, Jo was so kind as to share his beautifully pristine turquoise bat with another player who was attracted to this new bat at Jo’s feet. Sharing doesn’t always come easily when you’re 4, so we were really impressed by Jo’s generous offer.
Matan Mazursky, with an updated purple streak in his hair, managed the first-base Line Thrower Inner kids, including Iru, who was a great helper, attentively throwing in balls at precisely the right time so fielders have more than one ball to field.
At third base we had a sweet 2-year old girl and her dad and mom, alternating helper duty. When balls made it as far as third base, they were thrown in all directions with lots of giggles and smiles.
Meanwhile, in the outfield, Coach Rob in his usual assignment of minding the “do not cross this line for safety” was almost surrounded by kids at his feet. This group of Perry Leaguers had grown weary of fielding and were seated in the dirt, building a range of dirt mountains at the pitching rubber. When a ball rolled into their area, threatening the mountain building, kids’ expressions showed some irritation at the interference to their construction work.
Each week we experience a wide swing in kids’ interest levels. Sometimes kids are eager to play and do so for a short time and then find another activity, such as the aforementioned playing in the dirt, along with picking clover flowers or lying in the grass to watch the clouds float by.
Other kids are mono-focused on hitting or fielding, rather than switching up hitting and fielding. This particular evening, several kids were very focused on hitting. Some of them batted over and over and over. And over again. In particular there was little Elise, 4, who wore a single pink bow on the side of her wispy blond hair along with a very determined expression. Elise was at the Gaunt Park fields to hit! Each time she stepped up onto our very handy hitting mat that has shoe prints for kids to know how to stand in relation to the tee, her feet were firmly planted in the proper position. Elise chose standard size bats, which were big in relation to her 4-year-old frame, but no matter — her hands were placed properly, her mouth set in a straight line of concentration, eyes on the ball. And Elise enjoyed hit after hit after hit. We predict Elise will enjoy a successful career in any athletic endeavor she chooses.
Emi, 3, was another batting-focused child. She returned countless times to bat, wearing soccer cleats and carefully choosing just the right bat each time. It turned out each time that just the right bat was a different one. Her soccer-ball-carrying older brother accompanied Emi and offered advice.
At halftime break, kids were treated to popsicles. As Miko, 3, Jeremiah, 6, Kai, 5, and others were enjoying their treat on the batting bench, a debate was on to identify the pale yellow popsicle flavor. Initial consensus was vanilla with some lemon in it. Then Kai suggested the flavor was vanilla. The oldest boy finally asserted it was definitely lemon, and they all nodded and continued their licking.
When Miles hit, we noticed how he backed up and thoughtfully returned the bat to the batting circle before running to first base each time. While at the tee, Miles mentioned he had a red popsicle, and we noticed the evidence on his 3-year-old chin.
One of the last times she came to bat, Alyce, aka Aly, 4, came to us without shoes and with a smile. Her socks were purple and black with a kitten motif. Aly let us know she had a cat, and when pressed for more information, we learned her cat was black and white and named Calvin.
Maeve, one of the littlest and cutest of all, came to bat several times later in the evening. She had obviously been “pre-gaming” by playing in the chalk and had warmed up to trying out T-ball. Once she tried it out, she confidently hit the ball off the tee very nicely.
The coaches use the blow of a whistle to signal the start of the game, halftime breaks and end of play to quickly draw the attention of the players in the field. Around mid-game time, the coaches, spectators and children were surprised when we began to hear what Coach Beth best described as a rogue whistle, for which we were initially unable to locate the source. In the interim, every time the sound of this rogue whistle filled the air, there was a pause in T-ball action. We noticed kids running around, chasing each other and soon realized the location of said whistle. In short order, it was turned in by a grandma who had concerns about multiple T-baller mouths on said whistle.
At the end of the evening, when the real whistle was blown, kids ran out to the light pole and screamed, as per Perry League tradition. Afterward, we saw a group of players head up to the sledding hill to roll, roll, roll back down, a newer Perry League post-game tradition.
We’ll have two more Fridays of T-ball, including the shortened play and cookout Friday July 26. If there’s enough interest, we’ll bring back adult T-ball at the end of the evening. Please look out for the sign-up board for cookout sharing.
Our all-volunteer program is noncompetitive, free and open to children aged 2–9, regardless of their race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, spiritual inclination or practice, ability or disability. We meet every Friday through July at Gaunt Park, 6–7:30 p.m.
—Coaches Yunus Brevik and Margi and Rob Gay
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