Play BALL!

Today was Opening Day for Baseball at our Park.  Ty is a Cincinnati Red.  The simplest things make him happy... this year, for the first time in several years, they put the player's name on the back of their jerseys... Ty says he really likes the way his last name looks on the back of a jersey, snicker!  Good thing, cause he's kinda stuck with it... the name that is ;)  PS - the player in the background of the above photo is Trevor and he is a 'bullet'.  I have never seen a kid run/steal bases like him.  Ty mentioned on the way home today that he hopes to be as fast as Trevor by season's end.  Whew!

Ty loves to pitch and Ty loves to play 1st base.  He has played 1st base every year he has played baseball except his first year.  BUT this year his coach keeps him at shortstop.  He ROCKS shortstop!  Shawn and I completely understand why his coach puts Ty there, it is a tough position.  Ty will grow as a player not playing his comfortable 1st base position but don't expect him to smile about it.  Oh wait!  Ty doesn't smile while he plays baseball anyway.  Intense!

So todays game started out rough, like painfully rough.  End of 2nd inning and Ty's team was down 8-2.  The overthrows were killing them.  Then 3rd inning the coach put Ty in as pitcher... this is exactly the moment that my stomach started hurting and my nerves were shot.  When I said Ty was intense before, I do not overstate things.  He puts a lot of pressure on himself.  Thankfully, he shut down the runs.  His team needed that inning to regroup, badly needed that.  The proof?  Ty pitched the rest of the game, his teammates rallied and they WON 14-9.  I may or may not have been a tad obnoxious with excitement in the bleachers. 

PS- I did not get one photo of Ty pitching because my nerves did not allow me to budge from my frozen position on the bleachers.  Mom fail.

 This was Ty's best hit of the day... darn it I clicked too quick and missed his amazing follow through.  He had a full count because of 2 fouls.  He knew he had to swing at the next pitch and he dug low but made solid contact and sent the ball into the outfield.

After the game, the Coach realized he had forgotten to bring a 'game ball' to give out.  There was some discussion on who should get it.  Ty is a sure candidate... but my incredible son mentioned some other strong players to the coach to consider too.  We shall find out the game ball winner at next practice.

Game Ball or no... I've got a very happy son.  Nachos and Chick-fil-A sandwich from the concessions stand for post-game lunch may have something to do with some smiles.

 I smiled when we pulled back on to the farm.  This is proudly positioned in our front yard.  Earlier this week Ty had a 'strike zone' taped off on this pitching net (the outside square).  I hadn't noticed that sometime during the week his strike zone had become a 'strike bullseye'.  He will throws hundreds of times a day at this thing.  I even had to scold him this morning to not wear himself out PRIOR to his game.  He can be a baseball maniac...

Shawn missed the game because he is helping Christian do some prep work on his Eagle Project.  I kept Shawn updated throughout the game via text.  He had to of been perplexed when I sent the first gloomy text with us down 8-2.... and then a short time later the text announcing the win!  Grin.  Sad he missed but there is sure to be more 'rollercoaster' games for him to see all season.