End of the season

Abby finished up softball on Saturday.

She had a blast playing with the girls and they all learned so much.

She said her favorite part was pitching.

One game the little brothers and their friends ditched the softball game so they could watch the big boys practice.  How cute is that?!  One day they'll be out there with some younger admirers watching them.

Joe's team was pretty strong this season.  Three or four of them will be moving up to minor league next year, Joe included.  So, to get them ready, the boys got to try out pitching and hitting off of the boys pitching (instead of the coaches).  Joe said that was his favorite part.

My favorite part is seeing them have fun.

And yelling from the stands.

I probably am way too vocal but I come by it honestly.  My mom was always the loudest one in the bleachers and my dad had a knack for getting ejected.  He was harder to hear from the parking lot.  (Sisters, testify.)  Abby said she would be extremely embarrassed if I ever got thrown out of one of her games.  Guess I better watch it.

Angels in the Outfield

One of our spring break adventures was going to the kids' first major league baseball game.

Angels vs. Royals

First, a little pre-game tailgate.

Walking to our sky box.

(If sky box means the highest seats in the stadium)

First view of the field.

The dugout.

Albert PUJOLS!!!

Dylan--ready to catch a pop fly or a foul ball.

Top row of the upper deck.  It could happen.

After the game, the kids were able to go down on the field and run the bases.  Pretty cool.

It was a bit of a learning experience for me.

The Angels are not the A's despite the fact that all of their paraphernalia has a giant A on it.

You can lead off of any base.  I thought it was only first.

Major league pitchers do walk people. 

Also, balking was explained to me and why the batter can run sometimes on a third strike.

Oh, baseball, you have so much to teach me.

got crackerjack?!

Little League Opening Ceremonies

oh yeah.

this is it, people.

the official start of baseball season.

all the teams line up around the "dirt line" (somebody knows the real name for this.  i will do my best as a baseball mom but i have a lot to learn).  then each team's coach calls out the name of every player on his/her team.  that's right.  every player on every team in the league.  when your name is called you run as fast as you can to home plate.

 then the whole team runs back all together.

as fast as they can.

the coaches try to keep up.

 abs is excited to be a part of a softball team this year.

i mean, they have cuter socks.

she is also learning to pitch!

she did FABulous!

no kidding, struck people out and stuff.

 joe worked on intimidating the opposing team with his tough guy stances.

and by hitting the ball way over their heads.

look out MLB and WMLS,

here come the gardners!

Rivercats Update

The Rivercats have had a great year.  Just one more game to go before we close the season.

Here is a little run down of how the kids have done...

At Bat

Joe was hitting good, solid hits the first half of the season.  He decided to change his stance to be "like the majors", holding the bat up really high.  It threw him all off but he could not be convinced to change back.  He still gets hits.  They aren't like they were but he looks good at the plate.

*please notice how he runs on air* 

Abs is a slugger.  She has had more than several hits into the outfield and one line drive almost took Jonathan out!  Then she gets those long legs kickin' and she's around the bases before you know it.

 In the Field

  Joe will get the ball.  He can cover several positions at once and you can be sure that when he does snag it he will be in mid-dive.  He also likes to throw it just as far as he can.  So, outfield has been a good fit for him.

Abby has played mostly second or short stop.  She is consistent but maybe a little too polite out on the field.  I think her aunts need to teach her a little bit about game etiquette.

The little boys also get in on the game in their own special ways.  More on that in another post.

Little League Update

Saturday at the ball field...

Team pictures

Opening Ceremonies

Big game against the Riverdogs

Here are Joe and Abby to give you highlights from the game!

Joe said:

Joe on third base...

Im one of my baseball games I allmost caught a line drive in the air.

In the same game I had to dive and stop the ball.

In that same game I hit a popfly.

Abby said:

My baseball game on saturday was one of my best games.

I hit a grandslam and caught a popfly!

It was awesome.

We tied!

Gooooo Rivercats!!!

{pictures by T. Konz}