The Lightning 10u played in the Las Vegas Baseball Bash this weekend. After their strongest tournament of the year in Arizona, the boys looked to continue to play well back in their home state. This tournament came with a familiar performance of powerful pitching and hitting, and below average defense. All 10 hitters in the lineup showed up this weekend, which made it hard to choose an order for them to hit in. Every inning on the weekend came with a quality at-bat or hard-hit ball. Similarly, the pitchers attacked hitters with their best stuff, and gave the defense a chance to make plays. For the most part, the defense supported the pitchers and made the routine plays. In fact, the outcome of our tournament was determined by two poor defensive innings. Both losses stemmed from one big inning where the boys gave the opponent's extra outs, which led to extra pitches thrown, extra runs, and more energy spent on defense. As the weather gets hotter, and the competition gets better, the boys need to minimize their time in the sun on defense, and maximize their time hitting and resting in the dugout. This can only happen if they decide to take defense as seriously as offense.