Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Baseball season is officially upon us! Well, little guy baseball, anyway. The 6-year-olds finally had their clinic on February 18. Josh got roped into co-coaching with another dad, who ended up being the dad of a friend of Zachary’s. They played 4-year-old t-ball together, and then they were in the same kindergarten class last year (they are also in the same reading/language arts class this year). Before the clinic was over, the dad of one of his other friends volunteered to help be an assistant coach, and then the mom of another friend of his put in a carpool request for us. So Zachary ended up with all of his good friends on his team. We found out on Wednesday that they are the White Sox, and they had their first practice on Saturday.

Then Zachary & Josh got to participate in a special practice on Sunday that was just for the coaches & their kids. That was pretty cool because they got out the pitching machine & let the kids try to hit off of it. They did a little scrimmage, and Zachary had 2 really good hits off the machine. He hit the first one in about 5 or 6 pitches, but he required many more pitches on the second one (they were just trying to let them get a hit). We need to work on him making contact with the ball sooner, because once he hit it, they were good hits, and he made it safely on base both times. While we were there, a little girl came up to us, and started talking to Liam. It turns out that her dad & brother were on the field for the special practice, and apparently her mother was at home. So she was just hanging out all by herself (she told me she’s 4 & ½ - very trusting of the father to assume she would stay put! Anyway, they ran off & played together (always where I could see them), and it was so cute! They had many “adventures”. At one point one of the other moms commented on how cute they were. I agreed, and told her that you would never know that they had just met an hour earlier. She couldn’t believe it because they were playing so well together. I’m not sure what team her brother is on, but I hope we see her again when we do play them, because Liam had a great time with his new little friend.

The schedule seems a little less intense this year, and that’s probably because there are more teams in the 6 & under age groups, so field time is more limited. Even though this means the season is going on for one more week, I’m OK with this, because right now (before spring break), there is exactly 1 practice during the week, and one game on Saturday. After spring break, we add in a weeknight game each week, but that’s really it. Last year it seems like we were up there about 4 days/nights a week. It was exhausting, and by the time the season was over, I was so happy to be cooking hot dinners again. I had really had it with sandwiches & chicken fingers!

I'm really excited about the season & can't wait to see the boys progress & improve throughout the season!

(both photos taken with my phone, so please excuse the quality!)