John Batina
John Batina
bat confidence kids playing successful swing throughout
We have some kids that can swing the bat throughout the lineup, and we got some of that today. They're playing with confidence right now and that's why we've been successful lately.
power rely win
I'm greedy. I want to win the region. I don't want to have to rely on power points.
expecting kids
I'm having fun, and the kids are, too. The kids are now expecting to win.
fun kids needed
The kids needed this. This was fun to watch.
build damage starting
They were starting to build a little momentum, and to get out of that without a lot of damage was big.
early felt kids nice playing runs
I wanted to get everyone in the game, and we scored enough runs early where I felt comfortable doing that. It was nice to play kids who hadn't got a lot of playing time.
ball breaking command good strike top
Pepe was on top of his game. His breaking ball had a lot of bite, and he had good command of the strike zone.
approach bat bit change convince kids speed tried
We've tried to change our approach a little bit and convince the kids they have better bat speed than they think they have.
grip struggled trouble
He struggled a little bit. He had trouble with his grip because of the cold. But he competes so well.
weeks
We've been doing that for two weeks now.
good hitting swings
We put some good swings on the ball, but we were hitting it right at them.
ball game good saw second took
We did in the second game what we should have done in the first game. We saw the ball better, and we took good swings.
begin flow hitters patient pitchers slowly
Our hitters aren't very patient to begin with, and because of how slowly their pitchers worked, there was no flow to this game. I will say this - we did enough to win.
deserved
I thought Pepe deserved a better fate. We just didn't do enough at the plate.