Saturday, June 11, 2005

..the end Little League

Today my oldest son, Elias' team lost their second baseball game in the Little League playoffs. It was a two game elimination, so they are out of the playoffs. They beat the number one seed team last Monday, but lost their game on Thursday. Today was emotional for the team and the parents.

I have to admit I hear horror stories about Little League-the pouting, the arguing, the tantrums, the fighting... and this is just the adults. I am quite proud to be associated with the kids on my son's team as well as the parents. Everyone, at every single moment maintained their cool, thanked the coaches and officials, cheered each other on, and never, ever stooped to poor sportsman-like behavior.

The other parents would laugh at me for taking so many pictures, to the point where I was self-conscious. That's ok. I have photos, they don't. A'right, a'right, a'right....I take that back. I'll be giving them copies of the pictures I took of their kids. That's my gift to them. I certainly hope they pick up their cameras more often, because in the blink of an eye, these kids are going to be young adults, and they'll wish they had more photos.

Although our team lost more games than they won, I have watched these kids improve their baseball skills ten-fold. I get emotional thinking just how good these kids really are and how much heart they played with. I'm just to damn proud of these kids.

My son got hurt towards the end of the game. (This is not a picture of the injury-this is him scoring in the fifth inning) Coming into home to tie up the game in the top of the 6th, (they only play six innings in this league), the opposing team was throwing the ball to home to get my son out and the catcher missed the ball and the ball bounced off home plate and hit my son in the eye. My heart sank. I didn't even want to look, but I remained calm. I didn't run onto the field, like I wanted to, screaming, "My baby! My baby! Move out of the way! Is my baby ok? Oh my God! Is my baaaayyybbbeeee oooooookaaayyyy?!?!". I let my husband do that.

I did eventually make it onto the field with an ice pack. It broke my heart to see him rolling around on the ground and screaming in pain. I thought for sure he cracked the eye socket, but he didn't. There is a small cut below the eye. We may take him to the hospital to make sure his eye is okay, but his vision is clear now. His vision was blurred a bit for about 10 minutes after it happened.

After the game was over, the kid from the opposing team that threw the ball asked my son if he was ok, and then apologized. I thanked him and told him things like this happen in sports and I really do appreciate the apology.

We suspect my son will be chosen for the all-star team, as well as the coach's daughter. They were both spectacular players and I'm just not ready for Little League to end. I could watch my son play this game that he has fallen in love with everyday. Even though they lost today, I am so proud of the entire team and their huge effort they put into this game. What a great bunch of kids!
Posted by Random me :: 2:51 PM :: 5 comments

Hey you..Yea, you! Say something..

---------------oOo---------------