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T-Ball gives youth intro to baseball

There are two weeks left of Milk River Baseball, Malta's youth baseball program and the PCN caught up with coaches from the red and blue T-Ball teams last Wednesday at Trafton Park.

"It's a lot of teaching them hand and foot coordination," Red team Coach Jade Malmend told the PCN. "They are just learning the basics."

The T-Ball group is the youngest of the three Milk River Baseball Leagues, allowing youth ages four to seven to learn the basics and fundamentals of the game for one hour a game. Other groups in the league are the 7-9 age group and 10-13 age group.

While the older Bambino Leagues count outs, T-Ball lets every batter hit once an inning and then runners are allowed to run the bases after every hit.

"It just teaches them the basics of the game and they can work on the fundamentals of throwing, holding the bat correctly and the proper swing," Blue team Coach Rhei Tharp said. "It gets them ready for little league."

During the games, the coaches pitch to their players three times and if the batter cannot hit the ball, they will then hit the ball off of the tee. The pitchers are underhand and generally no more than six feet away from the batter.

"No matter what, the kid is going to get the chance to hit the ball and run," Malmend said.

Once a kid does connect with a hit, it is common to hear the crowd gasp as the ball heads back towards the coach in the line of fire. Every once in a while, the ball does drill the coach, which happened a time or two to Coach Tharp that day.

"It hit me in the hands," Coach Tharp said. "I was fast enough to block it. Luckily the balls are softer than little league balls."

When throwing towards a more aggressive or experienced hitter, Coach Tharp admitted the ball can be the least of his concerns.

"Sometimes it is terrifying because the bat can go flying just as far as the ball," he said.

T-Ball happens to be the earliest of team sports for a lot of the kids, teaching them important social interactions.

"They are learning a lot about teamwork," Coach Malmend said. "It's really fun to get everyone to cheer for each other and the hardest part is deciding who gets to hit first."

Being that the attention span of the players is limited at times, Coach Malmend has come up with a gimmick to keep her team focused.

"I threaten them with treats," Coach Malmend said.

T-Ball time doesn't means time away from family as both coaches have their kids and other family members as a part of their team.

"I have four kids all together," Coach Tharp said. "Two of them are playing T-Ball on the team here and my oldest son is playing in Little League this year. It's a good experience. I had my dad coach me when I was little and it was fun having him there. I feel like I get to connect with my kids a lot more doing this."

 

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