Travel Day - Practice

Wednesday was travel day.  Left Metro at 8:30 am, Delta was late pushing off as usual.  Ride was uneventful, watched a movie - bore fest.  David Miller arrived before me, traveling from Pittsburgh through Washington DC, before arriving in Tampa.

Checking into the hotel was the same as in years past.  We got settled into our room without incident.

The FCCS Pirates met in the hotel lobby, creating a caravan to Steinbrenner Field.  Our practice was conducted on Auxiliary Field, next to the stadium.

Rocking the Michigan Bulls hat in front of the Yankees complex

Spanky began by working with the outfielders, hitting fly balls, grounders, and making us run!  By the time we were done, we were winded and worked up quite a sweat.  Wardo worked with the infielders.  We conducted drills covering bunt coverage, run downs, etc.  Then for the last hour we took batting practice.  Spanky threw the entire hitting session.  Can't complain about the performance of the bat, it stung the ball.  With the heat hovering about 90 degrees, we received extensive instructions to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  With practice complete, time for the team dinner.

Team assembled at Maggiano's, they took good care of the FCCS Pirates

The team dinner was held at a different location, since we are interested in achieving a different result than the 2015 & 2016 tournaments.  The team enjoyed the conversation, Spanky's stories, and the funny situations that presented themselves over the past two years.  The Steinbrenner Auxilary Field right field corner, was officially named Jonik Corner, for the dive - roll - and tearing of my pants.  The entire team piled on the joke.