With Tropical Storm Elsa hovering over North Carolina, games and Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) testing originally scheduled for Thursday at the 16U National Team Championships North Carolina were postponed to Saturday. Teams did get the opportunity, however, to get in a round of batting practice in the covered batting cages at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon before game action starts on Friday.
It was an opportunity many of the tournament’s teams took, despite some players coming straight from other events. One member of Team Elite woke up at 5:00 a.m. and drove straight through the storm to the National Training Complex. “I haven’t even been to the hotel yet,” he laughed while waiting for his turn in the cage.
While the weather was far from ideal, the ‘off day’ of sorts was a breath of fresh air for these teams that have reached the heaviest part of their summer schedules. NorCal U came straight to North Carolina after playing a tournament last week in Hoover, Alabama. Players on the California-based team haven’t been home in several weeks so the extra day to reset and refocus was one they welcomed.
The time in the cages this afternoon allowed the teams to stay loose and have a little fun before game action starts Friday morning. Dulins Dodgers Prime coaches took the opportunity to create some friendly competition amongst the team. Players split into two teams and went through a type of simulated game. Step into the cage, take a swing, and coach determines whether it’s a single or out. As guys strung together hits they could score runs and they would switch hitters after three “outs.”
As you would expect, the game got intense and ended up going to a ‘10th inning.’
Players from Texas Twelve, staying true to their Aggie football-inspired team name, tossed around a football while waiting on their turn in the cages.
Towards the end of the afternoon, South Florida-based teams Elite Squad and Resmondo found themselves opposite of one another during batting practice. The teams traded friendly jabs about who was better before admitting a lot of them were actually friends off the field.
Despite the rain, it was a good tune-up day before games start tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. with a full day of action planned. And while the mood was light today, these players are ready to turn up the intensity and get serious as they start playing for that gold medal.
