I let each of the boys pose as they wanted to.
As I was saying, it was a cold day. It was about 50 degrees but there was a very brisk gale blowing and it made it pretty miserable for the parents and siblings not running around the ball field. Here is Deborah under our ballgame quilt. After the other people who were there taking their pictures left, I was able to pull the van closer to the field and watched part of the game from inside the van.
Aaron pitched two of the three innings and did pretty well despite the cold weather. Notice he is pitching with his sweatshirt on! Love these Michigan balmy spring days. He struck out five or six batters.
Aaron got a single and scored once for the team.
He was walked his second time at bat and was stranded (I think that is the right baseball term). 
We have more boys than positions so today Stephen had to sit out two innings. He played right field when he did get in.
Stephen had one time at bat and was walked. He later stole bases and made it home.
As you can see, it did get sunnier as the morning progressed but it still was pretty cold. Deborah and I had on our winter coats (after I had already put them away for the season. Silly me!) and we were still cold.
But it paid off and our team won 13 - 11 after 3 innings. Those three innings took 2 1/2 hours! There were a lot of time outs to tie shoes, give coaching tips like the batter needing to get out of the way of a boy running home, console pitchers who were replaced by other pitchers, check on the hands of the pitcher to see if they were getting too cold (have I mentioned that it was COLD yet?), and to yell to the outfield to stand up and stop playing with their hats/pants/grass/rocks.......
3 comments:
This post reminds me of Ty's baseball days, particularly one game in May when he was around eight. It was so cold that evening that we were in our coats and wrapped in blankets, and I looked out at Ty on the pitcher's mound to realize he was bare-armed! My good-mother meter took a nose dive!
i played little league baseball, but baseball was never easy for me. lots of people sort of downgrade the athleticism you need for it, but in my experience is actually one of the more challenging supports. it requires speed, strength, incredible eye-hand coordination, quick responses, lots of anticipation and a baseball instinct that i never had. i remember standing in center field one time and a kid hit a huge hit right out to me. impossible!! no one can hit it that far. so i came in a little bit only to find it sail over my head. home run. (or error, i'm not sure which.)
happy times!
Baseball seems to come pretty naturally for all three boys. Nathan is the most consumed by it and knows tons of baseball facts and rules. They check the paper every night to find out the scores and rankings of their favorite teams.
I like baseball better than other sports because of the strategy involved once there is a man on base. Should he steal? Should the batter sacrifice himself to advance the runner? Plus there is the glory of the double play. When it is done right, it is almost like ballet in its precise movements and beauty.
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