Today was an amazing day! But before I get into that, let me catch you up a bit since I've been such a slacker keeping up this blog this spring.
Our last few months have been full of baseball (our son), gymnastics (all 3), swimming (all 3), and soccer (our older daughter). We had no idea when our son asked to play ball this year that it would involve such a huge time commitment! It was 2 practices and a game (at least) each week. Luckily, Mike was able to be there for most of the practices and all of the games, so I was able to deal with the girls while they did the baseball thing. Our son's team did very well this season and he learned and progressed so much!
At the end of the season, the coaches pick several players from each time to play in the Farm League All-Star game. Our son's coach was the head coach for the Blue Team and he chose 5 kids from their team to play in the All-Star game. Our son got chosen - not an easy thing since it was his first season playing. The had a week of practices and the game was today, after the closing ceremonies.
It turned out to be the hottest day we've seen this year - about 90 degrees and windy - so it was pretty tough for the kids out on the field. They were playing under minor league rules, which are a bit different from what they were used to - all kid-pitch, 6 innings, 3 outs, no bunting or stealing bases. The two coaches were huge rivals and the kids on both teams REALLY wanted to win. The level of play was much higher than what they had seen during the regular season, so the expectations were really high for all of the kids.
Things weren't going well to start off. Our son struck out swinging on his first up, but he did okay out in left field and at short stop. By the bottom of the 5th inning, they were down 1-3, there were 2 outs, the bases were loaded, and he came up to bat again. I'll be honest, I was seriously worried he would strike out again. The count got to 2 balls and 2 strikes and it was looking like he would end the inning for them. Next pitch, he whacked that ball into the outfield! He brought 2 runners home and tied the game, 3-3. He was beyond excited and the crowd was going crazy! The pitcher walked the next batter, bringing one more runner home and making the score 4-3, which was how the inning ended.
Our pitcher took over at the top of the 6th and struck out 2 batters in a row. The third batter hit a pop fly and the pitcher caught it, ending the game. It was pandemonium after that! The parents and coaches were all high-fiving each other and the kids were jumping around screaming. I've never experienced anything like that and I'm likely to be hoarse for the next few days from the cheering and screaming.
After the teams congratulated each other, the coaches took the kids aside and awarded 3 game balls to the stand-out players for the game. The final pitcher got one, the kid who caught the whole game - wearing all of that equipment in the miserable heat and playing incredibly well - and our son! He was so excited and the caches were incredibly proud of how he came through for the team right when they needed it most. They even awarded him All-Star MVP!
All-in-all, it's been a really great spring. The coaches were so dedicated and patient with the kids, the families were terrific, and the kids were a fun bunch of goofballs. Our son is already talking about playing fall ball, so he's all baseball, all the time now. We can only hope he gets on teams in the future that are close to what he's had this season.
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