Swing Batter Batter Swing!

It seems that Baseball has been the highlight of my Spring this year!  Well, it seems that I can stay awake for nothing else!

Pregnancy - at least the first trimester - doesn't treat me very well.  Well, at least it seems that way.  It's been nice that Rod's been home, unemployed, because I haven't had to worry so much about what I'm getting done or not getting done.  But - it's interesting to see how much isn't getting done - because Mom's not the one doing it...

Jaden is playing his very first year of baseball.  He's on the Mudcats.  Well, I have to say, that I never wanted any of my kids to EVER play on the Mudcats!  The two years that Josiah played Minors - the Mudcats were our opponents - and they were the team that always had the kids stealing bases when they shouldn't and took advantage of everything... when it just wasn't called for at that level.  Last year, Josiah was put on that team and we had him switched off.  The coach came up to Rod one day and said something about it - but we didn't really explain.  Josiah's a good enough player that everyone would want him on their team... Rod just shrugged it off.

Back to Jaden.  We've finally got used to the fact that he's a Mudcat.  And he doesn't know why we had a problem with it in the first place.  (The Mudcat - I realized after all these years... is a CATFISH. UGH!)  Oh, he's got such a long way to go in the land of Baseball... but he's doing it so whole heartedly that it makes up for all of the skill!  I think he's somewhat behind physically because of his eye sight.  And right now he's eyepatching and wearing eyeglasses that skew his vision (in the name of making it better in the long run.) But he's having a bit of a hard time to say the least.

This last Wednesday was his last game.  In it, he his twice (woot woot) and didn't need the T.  He was first baseman, pitcher and outfielder.  Rod has him on film... playing with dirt in the outfield :D  Oh to be 8 again!
He can hit, throw and catch - just about as well as any kid on his team.  Way to enjoy your first year Jaden!!

Josiah & Jedediah are on the Pirates.  Let me say that I L.O.V.E. their team.  They've only won 4 or 5 games and then gotten a couple of more through the other team forfeiting.  But... they have the best coaches that a mom could ask for.  The first week or so - I had Rod go talk to Coach Justin about the language on the team... and he told him that if the kids' language didn't improve that we were pulling our boys... Well, needless to say, it was fixed pretty quickly.  Josiah & Logan are the team captains.  The tallest and the shortest kids on the team :D

Josiah pitched every other game this season.  I watched him his his first (over the fence) homerun ever.  Boy that boy is enthusiastic!  And there's nothing quite like the smack of a ball going over the fence!  I was also there the day that he pitched a 14K game.  (Struck out 14 kids out of 18 available outs.)  He got balls from both of those games.  He also played 3rd base.  Which he's really good at.  Just didn't seem like there were many plays at the base for him this season.  (One of the dads from the opposing team bought Josiah a king sized hot dog when he hit that awesome home run.  Should have gotten a picture!  Silly me!)

Josiah & Jedediah's coaches started something new... they got a Pirates flag... and brought it to each of the games.  I really appreciated it because I always knew what side of the field I was supposed to sit on :D  The kids enjoyed it because they ran it around the field when they won a game...  Good times.  (This picture is of the day where the Seahawks mascot came to visit...)

Jedediah started out the year as a really strong hitter.  Something happened along the way where he just wasn't as confident.  It seems that he's going through what Josiah went through for the last two years... everyone knows he can hit - but just can seem to get it off of a kid pitcher.  That's not to say that he didn't get on base and score .. he did.  Just not quite to what he would have like to have done.  He also played mostly outfield (older kids usually play the bases b'c they are better).  And boy did Jed save the team a few different times with his great catching of fly balls.  He really excelled at that this year.  (When I was a kid I wanted nothing to do with fly balls... to afraid of getting hit in the face!)

All in all, it was a really great season.  A bit short feeling with so many games canceled due to rain or overly wet fields.  There's something a bit odd about seeing a guy with a leaf blower out on the field trying to get it dried out enough to let the kids play!!!!

What do the rest of us do doing all of this?  Julia always is great at meeting the sisters of the boys who are playing - so she has lots of baseball friends that she goes & plays with.  Rod & I are usually sitting on the bleachers with Jevonna... oftentimes taking pictures or eating garlic fries (which set well with me for about 1/2 of the season.)  When Jaden was with us for the Pirates games, he was often off playing with Julia.  Or sitting next to Grandma, Granddad or Garrett.. or off to the snack shop to buy candy.  Josiah & Jedediah only got to go to a couple of games of Jadens because of scheduling conflicts.

So the season is now about wrapped up.  After the 15th Josiah will be trying out for the 11-12 All Star team - and it looks like Jedediah may try out for the 9-10 team.  Hopefully it'll be a bit warmer the week of games in July...