Playoff Baseball....

These are a couple shots from a playoff baseball game on Thursday. The game was pretty unexciting but I made a couple of nice shots that I liked. The top shot was a nice diving play by the shortstop. The bottom shot was a bobbled fly ball that went in his glove and popped out.

State Softball

I always enjoy shooting the high school state tournaments. I know I can always be assured of a few things: 1) The level of competition will be about as good as you can find, even in the lower classifications.



2) This will be the only assignments I have to concentrate on, which will allow me to exercise maximum creativity.



3) The access, while more limited than the regular season games, is still a lot better than you'll find for pro or college sports!



This year was the first time I covered the state softball tournament. In the past we either didn't have any local teams in it, or because of staffing issues (usually vacations) we weren't able to send a photographer. I was skeptical about going down there this year mainly because of what I had heard about limited access, lack of photo pits, and the boxes drawn out for photographers were not exactly made with photographers in mind, rather they were put there out of convenience... to everyone except photographers.



They key to dealing with all these problems is making the best out of what you are given. The two teams I was supposed to be covering were in Class A and 2A... the smallest classifications in the state. Which during the regular season doesn't make for ideal shooting conditions, at this level there is still talent even in the smaller classes.

"Girls don't play as hard as boys."

Common Myth: Girls don't play as hard as boys in sports.

Watching softball around here on a regular basis will dispel that myth quickly. The collision in the top photo caused a 20 minute delay in the game, in which the girl sliding into second was taken off the field on a stretcher, the girl she ran into was carried off the field.

The girl carried off the field returned to the game two innings later. The one taken to the hospital was back the following week for the state tournament.