Tonight was one of those nights where I couldn't have been prouder of the team I'm helping coach.

You see, I had invited a couple of my 12U students to come out and help our 14U team prepare for nationals by being baserunners for us. The 12Us have finished their season and were itching for a bit of softball action so it seemed like a mutually beneficial opportunity. The only question was how the older girls would react to a couple of younger players coming in.

That's what made me so proud. From the moment I introduced them, our girls were extremely welcoming and went out of their way to make them feel good. A couple of times they gave the 12Us some cheers. Our girls also went out of their way to help the 12U players learn some baserunning tricks that will help them in the future.

Toward the end, we worked on rundowns. The 12U girls not only were runners but were given the opportunity to participate as fielders. They had a blast, and again our girls explained to them what they could do in order to execute them better.

It was really an awesome display. Later in the evening I received texts from the mothers of both girls thanking me for the opportunity for their daughters. They too were most impressed with the class and friendliness our girls showed. It made the night of the 12U — and their participation definitely helped us work on our defense. Everyone won.

To see the way our girls treated these 12U girls was a great moment. No matter what happens at nationals, I feel like a winner because I'm associated with so many great, classy players.