Today, I am not even going to address the fact that I haven't posted in 2 months because I really have no good excuse. We are busy, as usual, but certainly not so busy that I couldn't take a few minutes out of my day to post the latest and greatest news in our family. A LOT has been going on and I have tons of pictures so I am going to make an effort to share a post a day for the next week. I may not get around to it tomorrow because I have dugout signs to finish up. But after that, I swear I will try.
For now, I want to share the big baseball news in our house. This weekend, Jordan moved up to 9U kid pitch baseball. This is something he has spent the last 2 years waiting for. He has played coach pitch for the last 4 years, but in kid pitch, it's real baseball. They get to pitch, steal bases and bunt... all things he has been anxious to do. Yesterday, he had his pitching debut. Unfortunately, the umpire was using the MLB strike zone, which is pretty unrealistic for 9 year olds who have a much smaller strike zone than adults. So he did not get any outs. Although, he didn't have much of a chance because our coach wanted to see how everyone else would do on the mound so he only kept him in the game for 1/2 inning (the whole game was 3 innings). But to look at him, you would have thought he had been doing it for years. He has so much confidence and athletic ability. Really, it's not fair. I have heard that in the first year of kid pitch, there is a lot of walking. That was the case yesterday. However, today, we played a great game against another team that actually tried to hit, rather than be given a walk. We didn't win but we played our best game, yet. And you would never know that these kids were brand new to this venue. They did awesome! When Jordan wasn't pitching, he was filling in for the pitcher which means he spent some time at first, second and third base. He really can do it all!
The best part of the tournament, for Jordan, was getting to steal. The bases were closed so there was no leading off, but they could steal after the ball crossed the plate. Jordan is fast and as soon as he got on base, you know he wasn't going to waste any time. He got to steal home... twice. And I even got a picture the first time! I am usually so excited by the play that I never get photos like that. But somehow I managed to get it this time. When I got home, I printed the photo for Jordan and he instantly took it up to his room and put it in the front of his personal scrapbook. Cute, huh?
While we didn't come out with a win this weekend, I think the boys got some great experience and now they know what to expect next time around. When we start playing tournaments with a more generous (and fair) strike zone, I think we are going to do really good. I can't wait to get Jordan back out there!
So that's it for today. In case you are wondering, everything is going well. The boys are back in school, we have been doing a lot of work around the house. And now it's back to baseball. All 3 boys are playing and Jared & Joe have their first games on Tuesday. It's all happening so fast, but it should be a fun season! I'll be back on Tuesday with first day of school photos. Until then, have a good day!