Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
It takes a village when playing competitive sports. One person simply cannot capture it all. One of the moms caught a series of pictures from John’s first over-the-fence home run (while I was cheering my head off). She got “the swing.”
She got him rounding the bases.
She got the boys waiting at home plate.
And, she got that smile…
Championship day started early with the 9 am game against the #3 seed.
The game was stressful to watch as the boys struggled and made some errors. They hung in there though and pulled out the 10-7 win to make the championship game.
Somewhere between the end of our game and the start of the championship game against the Missouri Gators Baseball Academy, the boys worked out the nerves and put the errors behind them. They played their best baseball of 2020. The boys started with putting up a run and then never looked back. Cody pitched a complete game. The defense was great and made minimal errors. The boys recovered easily when an error happened by getting the next out. The last three outs, which were amazing plays, put the stamp on the game. The final score was 7-2, and the families were just as excited as the boys. John worked so hard this past week on his batting confidence and he was especially excited to receive his first-ever trophy.
Congratulations to the Mid-MO Stars! You boys played your hearts out and left it all on the field! Enjoy those trophies!
The Stars won two today and are positioned as the #2 seed for tomorrow.
It was an exciting day of baseball and John had a great day at the plate. I think at least a tiny bit of his confidence is back. For his first at bat in game one, he hit his first over-the-fence home run! The smile on his face as he rounded third base and saw all his teammates waiting for him at home plate was so fun to see.
He hit a single for his next at bat and scored a run. The Stars won the first game 12-4. Game two was definitely more tense and the boys had some pretty big errors. However, they were bolstered by two more home runs from Cody and John with John’s second home run being a 280-foot bomb. They held on and pulled out the 10-9 win.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with our baseball family and enjoying time together. Bring on Championship Day!
John and I left for another baseball tournament today about 2 pm. Andy and Laura will join us tomorrow after Laura’s marching band practice tonight and the Boonville Festival of the Arts bike ride tomorrow morning. John and I had a fun time hanging out at the hotel. We had dinner and then the pool all to ourselves for about 90 minutes this evening. Can you see John?
We had some great talks and a lot of fun moments.
He is nervous about the tournament, but said that he feels like he got a lot of good work in this past week. Another Stars family joined us at the pool for the last hour. The boys got some energy out and the adults had a couple of drinks and enjoyed good conversation. Bring on the tournament!
There is something strange at my back door! Do I unlock the door? Do I run away screaming? I am not sure what to do…
John and three other boys put in some extra work at the ballfield today. John looked really good all around and he said that he feels like he can translate that to the tournament this weekend. I am crossing my fingers!
I watched John almost hit a home run on the Antimi Blue field today at practice. It was dead center field, and it was literally a foot from being out. I couldn’t help but think, “Where is THAT kid on game day?” He has struggled at the plate something awful this year. No amount of batting practice is going to fix whatever is going on mentally when he steps up to the plate during an actual game. It was interesting to listen to him on the way home from practice.
Instead of bragging about the hit, he said, “Mom! I had two great hits at practice today.” I said, “See. You CAN do it.” He gave me a sideways look and mumbled, “Now, I just need to figure out how to do that in a game.”
I didn’t respond because he is right. It is so damn hard to watch your kid struggle and know that you cannot do anything about it. Baseball is such a mental game and it is all about confidence. Here is to hoping that this gets him moving at least a few steps in the right direction.
By the way, he did brag a lot about the near home run to Andy and Laura when he got home. I cannot blame him, because it was a beautiful hit. It was just one foot short of 220 feet and what would have been his first over-the-fence.