Chace is a Tiger

a Detroit Tiger, that is!  Never, ever will he cheer for the blue/orange Tiger team, which will go unnamed here on my blog!!!  He is playing in the Senior League in the Madison Baseball rec league again.  He didn’t play last year after getting totally burned out on baseball at Liberty.  At Liberty, the coaches were so intense and just ON the boys butts all the time that Chace didn’t really enjoy it.  It is totally different in the park league.  These boys are playing baseball just for the fun of the game.  It is relaxed and easygoing and just plain fun.  Chace is enjoying it so much, and that translates into him being a better ball player.  He is hitting the ball better than he ever did at Liberty.  He hit one over the fence the other day and the joy on his face as he crossed home plate with all his teammates there to smack him on the back (or butt) was so apparent.  He is playing shortshop and will go completely horizontal in the air to keep a ball from getting by him.  He also pitches some, they call him the Closer.  His coach will usually put him at the end of the game.  I think he only started pitching one game.  After one inning pitching, the coach asked him if that was a knuckle ball he threw.  Chace said yes it was.  His coach seemed to be impressed with that pitch in particular.  I don’t even know what a knuckle ball is!  Anyway, it has been fun to go to the games – Caeden especially enjoys watching these much older boys play!

Today was their last game in the regular season, so we got some team shots afterward.

Rainy Day at the Ballpark

Is there anything better than a cloudy, warm summer day with a solid rain coming down?  Of course you have to be aware of any lightning in the area.  Chace was supposed to have a game today.  But, the day started out rainy with more rain on the way.  For some reason, Madison Baseball league will wait til the last minute to call a game.  In this case, they waited until both teams showed up on this rainy Saturday to play to call the game.  It was raining when we arrived, then slacked off a bit, which provided the perfect setting for a rainy run complete with lots of puddle stomping!  Caeden asked me if he could do it, and I think he was shocked when I said yes.  Lael held off for a while until I guess she decided that Caeden was having more fun than she was. 

Pirates Finish 3rd Place

After a season of many ups and downs – the Pirates finished 3rd in the Rookie 7 division.  We had a great final game against the Rangers.  It could have gone either way, just like the previous game where we played them and beat them.   All of the boys played their hardest and in the end the game was won by just a couple of points.  I can’t remember the exact score.  We had our team party at Pizza Inn the Saturday after the last game.  Everyone enjoyed it!  

Professional Baseball Photos

One of the boys on Caeden’s team is the grandson of Greg Machen.  Greg Machen Photography is one of Madison’s best photographers.  They do the school portraits at Columbia, I don’t know if they do all the schools or not.  But, I like that the Madison school system supports Madison businesses like Greg Machen.  Anyway, back to baseball…….since we had a connection – one of the photographers came out to two different games to take some action shots of the boys.  I was so happy about this – and best of all, he did it for free!  He got some great shots of Caeden, I am thrilled!

Learning to Lose

Playing baseball at 7 or 8 years old requires a lot.  This is the age, IMHO, where it all changes.  Caeden has played baseball in the Madison Baseball League since he was 5, he started in the T-ball league.  Todd was his coach for the first two years and it was a lot of fun.  At that age, it is cute when the whole team dog-piles and fights over who comes up with the ball.  It is cute when they take 5 swings and never connect with the ball.  It is cute when they are doing cartwheels and playing in the dirt in the outfield.  This is the year however, when it got quite a bit more serious.  Caeden usually plays Left/Center position.  This is not a very exciting position.  There are not a lot of balls that make it to the outfield.  Therefore, a lot of time is spent in the outfield with hands on knees, in the ready position, but ready only for the possibility that a ball will actually make it out there.  It rarely happened.  Caeden said it was sometimes boring.  But, he has been a trooper.  He never complained, he was always ready for that possibility that the ball would find its way to his turf.  He always hustled on and off the field.  I have been proud of all of those little things.  Those are the basics which will make Caeden into a better baseball player.  He has come a long way this season.  He started off having a hard time getting used to the pitching machine, he couldn’t seem to find the rhythm, the right time to swing the bat.  Each strike-out would dampen his spirits and you could see that classic CIA face, where he wanted to burst out in tears and declare he quit, he didn’t want to play any more.  He did let a few tears slide down, but never went so far as to want to quit.  Then toward the middle of the season, he started to make contact, and built up his confidence.  A lot of the credit for his progress goes to Chace.  He would take Caeden into the backyard and throw ball after ball to him, coach him on his swing and encourage him.  Todd or I could give Caeden the same directions, but the advice coming from Chace made a much bigger impact.  Another huge part of baseball this season is learning to lose.  Our team started off the season doing very well.  We won, and seemed to win easily.  As the season progressed, I don’t know if it was that the other teams just got better or if we got too cocky, or what – but we went on a losing streak.  Then we started winning again, and ended the season with 3rd place. 

We started playing in the tournament this week and won our first game.  Today, we had a re-match with the Rangers, we were 1-1 against them.  This was a great game.  Both teams were playing well, and each inning brought great hits and plays.  It could have gone either way, but the Rangers ended up taking the win, 15-12.  I was proud of our team, they played hard and did their best.  That is all we could have asked of them.  I was also proud that they showed class and good sportsmanship as they lined up to shake the Rangers hands.  That is the mark of a great baseball team, and the making of little boys who grow up to be great men.

Pirates 11, Rangers 4

Whoo-hoo!  After losing our last 4 games in a row, we beat one of the #1 ranked teams today.  Yay!  We had been tied with the Rangers most of the season for first place, then we went on a losing streak.  Today, we continued our game that was rained out on Thursday night.  That meant that we started out 6 runs ahead.  We continued to play really well, everybody was hitting the ball, running hard, and making good plays.  This translated into us beating them soundly.  Our boys were so so so so excited!  Let’s hope we can continue playing as well when we start the tournament.

Madison Baseball Opening Day

Opening Day for baseball in Madison is a big deal.  This year, it was a beautiful Spring day with perfect weather to hang out at the ball park.  They had 4 inflateables, plenty of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and a feeling of excitement as the games got underway.  Caeden’s team had their first game, but Lael was not all that excited to watch – all she could focus on was the inflateable slide, obstacle course and jumping thing.  I took her over right before Caeden’s game started to play, so of course Caeden started in with “That’s not fair!”  If I had a nickel for every time one of them said that – I would be so rich!

Caeden Baseball

Caeden is having fun playing baseball again this year. We have a lot of the same team members from last year, so that is cool. They are still cute and funny as they chase the balls all over the field. But, they have definitely improved from last year. At least now the entire team doesn’t try to catch every single ball!! They mostly stay in their positions.

Chace Injured

Chace had a baseball game today, actually they had a couple of games, but in the first one he got injured. He hit the ball beautifully – deep into center field, and takes off around the bases. He said after he rounded 1st that he felt something pop – he made it to 2nd, and should have taken 3rd – but I could tell he was hurting bad. They got another runner in for him and he managed to hobble off the field with the help of one of the coaches. I figured it was his back, because he already pulled a muscle in batting practice a few weeks ago, but it was actually his hip that was hurting. He got some ice, but it was not helping. The game was almost over, so Todd took him to Urgent Care straight from the field. They took x-rays and checked him out. They said that he had torn/separated the muscle from the growth plate in his hip. We got him some crutches and had an appointment at Sports Medicine. They recommended 3-4 weeks of physical therapy, so that should be fun fitting into our schedule.

Busy weekend

My parents, my sister and her daughter are in town this weekend. Mallory was supposed to play in a tennis tournament here in Huntsville. But, right after they arrived Heather checked the website to see if they needed to go check in and they had canceled it! She drove all the way here from Atlanta to find out that Mallory would not be playing. The weather has been crappy the past couple of days, lots and lots of rain! I told Heather that I would be surprised if she played, but I never thought it would be totally canceled. Caeden was supposed to play ball, Lael had soccer practice and Chace had several games scheduled for Saturday. It was going to be a very full, very busy weekend. But, only Chace’s games went on – somehow they managed to get Liberty’s field ready to play on Saturday. It was nice to be able to visit with the Fam. On Saturday, in between Chace’s games, we went out to Greenbrier BBQ to eat. It is the best BBQ we’ve found in town – ok, it’s not really in town, just a few miles from County Line Rd, although it feels like much farther!!! They have the best hushpuppies I think I have ever eaten, I could make a meal of just them! That night we watched Twilight again. It was just as good the second time around!