And believe it or not, Deer Park head coach Amy Vidal is still screaming numbers, just like she did for 12 state playoff games and an entire regular season. But instead of ‘4-5-1’ and ‘3-1-2’ and many other number combinations she shouted at the team when they were in defense, Vidal is now shouting numbers that we we can all understand.

“10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1,” she shouted from the infield as three groups of kids in the outfield had one minute to catch as many fly balls as they could in a batting helmet. His final 10-second countdown had every camper rushing for that last practice ball to get into that uncooperative batting helmet.

The Lady Deer members who won a second straight Region III championship this spring were the ones tossing the balls in the air, encouraging future high school players and, when needed, reminding them to move their feet to get under the pop flies.

There was also time during Wednesday’s camp to work on bunting skills, a skill that takes a lot of hours and dedication to become effective, a skill these pint-sized players will potentially have broken down. when they enter high school.

One of the campers wore a “We’re Back” t-shirt that Lady Deer fans wore during the state championship tournament in Austin two weeks ago. This post was of course referring to the team’s back-to-back trips to the state, the first time for this achievement since the 2013, 2014 seasons.

After the campers for the day were announced, Vidal informed everyone that Thursday’s camp was for “Crazy Hair Day” only and ended with what looked like another slip-N-slide appearance.

Campers will remember all of this, but they will also remember how they rubbed shoulders with some of the best high school softball players in Texas.

[email protected]