Field of Dreams with the Greenville Drive

We have had a wonderful Little League season this spring.  Little Man's baseball team only lost two games the entire season.  They placed 2nd in their league!

The parents have been very supportive and the boys have been great.  Everyone has done such a terrific job; the coach wanted have a special celebration for them.  Our local minor league team, Greenville Drive, has a Field of Dreams package that allows a team to interact with the minor league players.  The boys were so excited to get to participate.

The boys all had a ball for the players to sign. They got to see into the dug out; run out on the field with one of the players; stand out on the field for the National Anthem; receive their trophies and medals; take in the game.  They all had smiles from ear to ear!

Way to go, Apocalypse Bulldogs!

Learning to Catch

The other night the team's catcher took a hard hit.  It resulted in a buckle fracture to his thumb.  The team was left without a catcher. 

Little Man had begged me to let him catch back in the spring.  I was reluctant and did not allow him to catch.  He practiced at home.  Little Man would spend hours throwing the ball high into the air and then rip off the catcher's helmet to ready himself to catch a pop-up.  He really wanted to catch.

His time to catch had come.  The team needed a catcher.  The infield was solid.  So, the next day, Little Man and I began working on catching drills.  We had two days before the next game.

He was ecstatic to catch.  We had all the gear except for a catcher's mitt.  I took him to Play It Again Sports to purchase a well broken in mitt. 

When we returned home, he immediately put on his gear. I threw the ball to him and he caught it.  I threw harder and harder and he caught it.  He, however, was scared to get in front of the pitching machine.  I really don't blame him.  The machine is a bit intimidating.  So, we held off on the machine for the first day.

On game day, we again went out to practice.  I told him he has to get in front of the machine if he was to catch tonight.  He put it off.  We practice pop-ups, fouls, throws to home, etc.  He was ready for everything, but the machine.

Finally, after lunch, he built up the nerve to catch in front of the machine.  He got behind the plate and caught the ball to his surprise.  I pitched it again and he caught it.  He was ready.

The coach had not planned on using him during the game.  He never had seen him catch and another boy had caught a few times during a practice.  However, before the game during warm-ups, they had both boys practice catching.  Little Man did just as well as the the other boy. 

The coach put in the other boy during the first inning.  But, then decided to use Little Man for the second inning.  He did awesome!  No one could tell that he had never caught before.  He looked better than other kids that had caught all season.  Little Man was on cloud nine.

I think I have a catcher now!

Learning How to Get Better

Little Man's fall baseball team has been stomping their competition.  They have won every game and the feeling of victory has been sweet.  Especially to five of the boys from our spring team.  Those five boys had endure so much and knew how it felt to be on the losing end.  Three of the boys on our fall team were on the winning end during the spring.  They had yet to experience that loss of being out powered.

This all changed over the weekend.  A tournament the boys were scheduled to play was cancelled.  One of our coaches knew of a AA tournament that we could play.  Our little team is a single A rec ball team.  We did not hand pick our boys.  AA teams hold try-outs and hand pick their teams.  Some of these teams have been playing together for years and move up each division together.  Our boys were in for a challenge!

Now, we were coming into another world of ball playing.  Most of our parents did not understand the world of tournament ball.  The stakes are higher and the playing more serious.  We felt that our little team needed a challenge and this would be it.  Their batting was hot, but work in the defense was needed.  We were definitely better defensively than other teams we had played in rec ball.  However, we needed to get better.  Our boys didn't understand this.  They had won their games and were satisfied.  The tournament would be our answer.

The team we played first was a newly formed AA team.  We figured we had a chance.  The boys played a good defensive game.  They made a few costly errors, but overall it was a good game.  The pitching machine was awful!  The spring needed to be replaced and it caused the ball to arc.  The pitches were all over the place and the ball speed was slow.  Our boys had a hard time adjusting.  We lost the game.  Our first ever loss this season.

We didn't have time to focus on a loss.  We played another game right after it.  The team we played was seasoned.  They had played all last year together and worked well with each other.  Their boys could hit and defend.  Our boys tried their best, but became frustrated and made errors.  They tried their hardest to win.  At the end of the game, the reality of two losses set in.

The coaches talked to the boys.  They praised them for their hard work and talked to them about what they needed to work on.  We would get to play the two teams again the next day.  The five boys from our spring team took the losing in stride.  For the three that had yet to experience a loss, they were a bit devastated that it happened.

The next day, we started out playing the team that had been all other teams.  Our boys were not as excited to play today.  They liked playing baseball, but they didn't like playing against the one that beat them.  Needless to say we loss that game.

I told Little Man and the team that the only way you ever get better at playing is to play someone better than you.  If you only want to win and only play teams that are not as good as you, then you are not getting better.  This weekend showed the boys what they are lacking.  It gives them a good foundation to build upon to get to the next level of play.

I think the boys learned a valuable lesson in the art of losing and will strive to improve their game.
 

The Season Has Begun

Fall baseball season has officially started.  Practices began a month ago and now the games have started.  Five of the boys from the spring team are on the fall team.  We have picked up six more boys.

Surprisingly the boys are playing great together.  Little Man is in left field this season and occasionally in center.  He has a great arm and when he pulls it all together is quite accurate.  He really wants to be able to pitch in another year.  I have told him he has to pay attention and have great aim.  He is really putting in the effort to get there.

Last year, he wasn't really hot at bat.  It was hit and miss.  This season he is hitting!  He is starting to hit the ball consistently shallow into the outfield.  He has made it on base and scored a few times.  His confidence is growing with every game.

Every boy on the team is hitting and we are winning.  That is a big step from the spring.  Our little spring team went 2-8 for the regular season.  The fall team is 2-0!

They still need to work on defense.  It will come.

I believe they are going to do great as long as they keep trying their best and don't lose focus.  The coaches are great at driving in sportsmanship and correcting their mistakes.  They are keeping the boys from getting a big head.

Here is to a great season of Little League Baseball!

Feet!

If you are a mother of a boy, you should be able to relate to this post.  Little Man is going through a major growth spurt!  It started last March and shows no signs of stopping.

My little guy has, well, always been little.  He has a very high metabolism and can put away food like a teenage boy.  It seems he is always hungry!  I don't know where it all goes.  He has always been skinny as a rail.  When he does get a bit of a belly, it quickly disappears, as he adds another inch of height!

In March, we bought size two baseball cleats.  I was concerned at the time they may be too large for him.  Hubby assured me that the cleats would be fine.  Little did we both know a major growth spurt was about to begin.

As ball season progressed, Little Man began complaining about his cleats.  I also noticed that they were a bit harder to put on his feet.  However, once we laced them up and went off to practice or a game, he quit complaining.  By May, it was almost impossible to put the cleats on his feet.  I really didn't want to buy another pair for two games.  So, we managed squeezing his feet into them.

I realized he was also growing upward by June.  He had put on muscle and no longer was the skinny little kid from March.  His biceps were becoming larger from swinging the baseball bat.  He jumped in size from a boys 5 to a boys 7.  I had to buy size 4 flip flops.  (Although, he really needed a 3.  He told me his feet would grow into them.  He was right!  By July, they fit perfectly.)

Mid-July came and it was time to sign-up for fall baseball.  I had him try his uniform on from the spring.  The pants had been six inches to long in March.  They were only three inches short now!  (He wouldn't wear them in the spring.  He wore a different pair, so I knew they had not shrunk from washing and drying.) 

Today, we went to buy cleats.  I held off this purchase for as long as I could.  The first practice is tonight.  I started with a size 4 cleat.  It was a perfect fit, but no room to grow.  I went and got the 4 1/2.  Plenty of room to grow, I hope!

Where Has the Month Gone?

Okay, I have been meaning to post.  However, I have been so busy running here and there that I haven't really had a chance.  The summer seems to pull me in more directions than the school year!  So, bear with me, as I catch up on what all has been taking place.

Little Man spent the first week of June at baseball camp.  He loved every minute of it.  I loved the fact Egee and I were able to spend some one on one time together.  She so needed it.

We had library classes to attend for summer reading.  We were busy going from one library to another.  Plays, magic shows, story telling, making mummies, and art have filled the first few weeks of summer vacation.  We are in a lull this week, but the fun will start again!

We have had friends over to swim and play several times.  Afternoons filled with giggles and splashing.  Evenings filled with laughter and lightening bug hunts.  Even fun in the rain!

A week of vacation bible school filled our evenings.  Egee accepted Jesus, as her Lord and Savior.  She was baptized the last night of VBS.

We finally got to go camping.  I have been waiting for a nice weekend and no baseball.  Finally, it happened!   We had a blast camping with my parents.  Little Man even made a friend from Quebec.  The boys had a blast!

Egee and Little Man have spent several nights with my parents.  In fact, Little Man is at their house now.  They love spending time with their MeeMee in the summer.

Oh, and we even celebrated Father's Day and our 13th wedding anniversary!

And to think, we are only three weeks into summer vacation!  I may need a vacation to recover from summer vacation.

What A Way To End The Season!

The boys may have started the season off slow.  They looked more like the Bad News Bears than anything.  They were basically a team of misfits that had potential.  They needed a guiding hand.  They needed confidence.  They needed patience.  They needed encouragement.  They needed to become a team.

Over the course of two months, twelve boys, along with their coaches and parents, kept believing in themselves.  They practiced on and off the field.  They never gave up.  They showed sportsmanship throughout every loss.  Then the hard work was rewarded.

The first win of the season came during their ninth game.  The victory was celebrated with ice cream.  For it was a sweet victory.

The second win came during their tenth game.  Everyone was astonished.  They had become the little team that could!

They went into a post season tournament with dreams of just playing one more game.  One more game, they played.  They played hard with the bats blazing and runs scored.  They emerged victorious!

Off they went to play in the quarter finals.  No one had expected the little team to get that far.  Again, bats blazed, runs scored, and balls were stopped.  They just experienced win number four!  They were headed to the semifinals.

The semifinal game was tough!  The little team that could tried its best.  The bats were hot, but the fielding was not.  They never gave up.  They turned it on in the last inning, but it was too late.  They gave it their all, however it wasn't enough.

The little team that could may have lost the semifinal game, but the boys only saw a victory.  They overcame the lack of skill from the start of the season.  They became more confident in their skills.  They learned that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but the game should always be fun.

Let's Play Ball - Inman Library Program

Yesterday, Ms. Terri invited the Chapman Baseball Team to the library to put on a mini baseball clinic.  Little Man was so excited to attend.  He has been thinking about attending the summer baseball camp, at the high school, and this gives him a chance to meet the players and coach.

Coach Fusaro was wonderful!  He introduced all the players that came to help.  He told us a bit about each player and had nothing but praise for them.  The players seemed to enjoy their coach and were very attentive.

Coach Fusaro related baseball to the children in simple terms and used many familiar examples.  He had his players demonstrate a technique and then had the children model the technique.  He was very patient and made sure the children understood how to correct the position.

Each child had one on one attention with the players.  One player would throw a ball and another player would help and give pointers for fielding the ball.  Each player was very supportive of the children.  All the children felt at ease working with the players.  You can tell the players have received much positive reinforcement from their coach.  They would cheer on the children and celebrate with high fives.

Coach Fusaro would work down the line and offer encouragement and tips to the children.  He gently reminded them how to place their feet or glove.  Little Man was really getting the hang of throwing more accurate.  Egee was having a blast!

A lady came out with her toddler to watch the clinic.  Her little boy loves baseball.  Coach Fusaro gave the little guy a whiffle ball and made a fuss over him.  He played catch with the boy and even found him a bat.  The little one had a smile ear to ear and his mother was very appreciative of the coach making time for her son.

At the end of the clinic, they had a hit off.  Coach Fusaro pitched ten balls to each child and had a point system in place to score hits.  Little Man won the contest and Egee came in second.

Little Man can't wait to spend a week with Coach Fusaro and his team!

We would like to say thank you again to Chapman High School Baseball Team and Coach Fusaro.  We enjoyed our afternoon learning how to be better ball players.