End of the season

Picture it: Saturday, 11:30 AM, on the hottest day since (I believe) 2004. I don't do well in heat. I really don't do well in heat + humidity. When the news guy said we were under heat advisory, and all bus rides would be free, AND to stay in air conditioning as much as possible I was begging, praying, hoping that the game would be rescheduled. But who am I kidding, this is the league that didn't cancel during a tornado warning, 100+ degree weather doesn't scare us. We are serious about our baseball people.

I have no idea how the boys managed to play. I found a teeny tiny sliver of shade and I was still dying in the heat. I think that for awhile it became a game of endurance rather than skill. There was one inning where the coach told the boys they had to get three runs or the game was over. If I was a kid, I would be tempted to throw it just to stop playing.

Check out Spencer right before this crucial inning:

Can you see the sweat and exhaustion?? We were doing everything we could to keep the boys cool and hydrated. We had buckets of ice water and washcloths to put on their faces and necks while they were in the dugout. When they were in the field or running bases, we had people running water out to the kids.

Anyway, back to the crucial inning. We weren't doing too well and it looked like the game would be over. Then Spencer went to bat. He hit the ball hard enough that we were able to get a couple RBIs and he got on base. We got our 3 runs that inning and turned the game around. We ended up not winning but it was a VERY close game. Check out Spencer sliding home:

The boys finished the season 2ND in the league!

At the post game wrap up, Spencer was given the game ball:

That blur you see on this last picture is from the half eaten ice cream cone Ella decided to put in my bag on top of my camera. Good thing it was easy to clean :).

Some of my other favorite pictures from this season:

Spencer played third baseman for most of the season:

He just caught the ball here - he makes it look so effortless:This is one of my favorite shots. He is avoiding the ball on a bad pitch:

I was surprised this season by how sad I am that it is over. It has been so fun to watch the boys this year. They have really turned into great players. It has been fun to run into some of Spencer's past coaches and have them root for him even if they are coaching the other team. It is nice to be in that kind of environment. We are signed up to play Fall Ball again this year and most likely spring next year.

On a side note . . . there were scouts at the playoff game! Spencer's at the age where next year is a draft. I *might* have offended some of them when I put my chair right in front of them while muttering about needing to sit on my team's side. When I found out they were scouts and not overzealous parents from the opposing team, I briefly contemplated cheering loudly for another kid so they wouldn't know I was Spencer's mom. Why, why, why do I do these things???? I blame the heat.

Take me out to the ball game

Since a lot of you don't live close enough to come to a game, I thought I'd bring the game to you! These are from last Friday's game.

Before game -

The kids have an hour warm-up before the game. Spencer saw the camera come out and graciously paused for a sec so I could take a picture of him. He knows the drill by now.



Ella distracting Spencer during pre-game practice:






We spent a lot of time at this game telling her not to climb. It probably didn't help that I was taking pictures of her.

When the game started I was over at the sandbox with Ella. We hurried over and saw that Spencer was one of the boys leading the ball players in the West Springfield Little League's motto. So I hurried and snapped some pics. I'm not really sure what it is and, to be honest, I don't remember ever seeing them do it before, but they must have because Spencer knew the words.



Spencer being excited to start the game (he was first pitcher):





So while the game was going on, Ella was playing in the dirt. She cracks me up because while she is so into princesses and dress up, she also loves to get dirty and climb on everything! She is a real trooper, between fall and spring baseball Ella has been to a lot of games.







She brought her "find" back home with us, any ideas what it is??

Back to the game . . . Spencer was the starting pitcher. Watching baseball at this level has become a very unnerving thing for me. I am more scared for him then he is. I know how important the game is to him and I just so want him to do well.





Check out him catching the ball. GO SPENCER! I swear if you watch the moms at little league games (myself included), there is a strange mixture of stress and worriedness that you see in their face (even when smiling) that doesn't go away until their kid does one good play.



At bat:





Let's check in with Ella - she has found something else to climb on:



Pep talk from coach:



Good game:



So now you've been to a baseball game with us. We ended the night by taking the kids out to dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Bella Villa. They make brick oven pizza and toss the dough right in front of you which the kids LOVED. The best part of the night though was when our orders came. Spencer ordered from the adult menu. I think he thought he was ordering just a slice of pizza (Lance and I knew otherwise) so his eyes got huge when they placed a whole pizza in front of him. He also surprised us by dipping bread in olive oil and parmesan cheese. Who is this kid? Ella ordered from the kids menu and was so excited when they brought her a little pizza in the shape of a heart. She says next time she wants them to make her pizza in the shape of Pablo from the Backyardigans, I wished her good luck with that.

I'm hoping this post will entice you to visit us. We will treat you to dinner and everything the metro DC area has to offer. Who knows, we might even drag you along to a game or two :)