Baseball Mania!

Brandon is playing coach pitch this year and LOVING it! He played T-Ball for 2 years and it was okay, Ryan and I really couldn't tell if he really liked it or not. This Spring we started talking to him about what summer program he wanted to enroll in. He first mentioned golf. We were surprised but totally cool with it. Ryan took him down to the Parks and Rec office to sign him up and found out he had to be 8, so he has a year to wait for that. He told Ryan that he would play baseball instead. We were hesitant since it obviously wasn't his first choice but we have been pleasantly surprised! The team he is on, the Red Soxs (fitting for our family who are Sox fans!) is a young team. All the boys are playing coach pitch for the first year so it's been a learning experience. Those poor boys not only have had to adjust to hitting the ball from pitches but also adjusting to different circumstances (meaning where to throw the ball depending on where opponents are.) In T-Ball the kids just always threw the ball to first base, now the pitcher or short stop get the ball and they may need to throw it to first or third or home. You can see the frustration at times but I am so proud of all the boys, they are doing so well. The coach has pretty much named Brandon as the catcher and Brandon LOVES it and does so incredibly well.
We have only played 3 regular season games (and lost all 3) and then we played in a tournament yesterday. It was a guaranteed 3 games and then more if we won. Our first game was at 9. We played a Clinton team that we played the night before and just like the night before we lost. Our boys did well and really played much better against them the second time. Brandon was the catcher and it is awesome to see how far he has come in just the 4 games the team has played. The second game was at 11:30 and I had to bring his brothers home for a nap so I missed it but they lost again. They played a team from Prague and the coach was pretty hot-headed. He came over to our dugout in the middle of the 4 inning game and tried to fight our coaches. Crazy. Brandon played right field for game 2. The third (and possible last game) was at 2:30 and they faced another Weatherford team. It was an excellent game! Brandon caught and did excellent! The boys had great hits and great plays and they WON!!! 6-5!! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITING!!! The boys were hooping and hollering and that win made them totally forget about all the other games in which they had lost. It was awesome! So we played another game at 5 against a team from Moore, the Moore "tournament team." That team had it together and even played music between each inning and had banners and everything but our boys held their own, even shutting them out one inning!!! Brandon caught the entire game and it seemed to last a long time and he stayed on his feet, squatting and catching and blocking those baseballs from going behind him! They lost 12-3. I overheard the fans on our way out and they all expected to shut our team out and for us to not even score any runs. We shocked them and I love it!
Unfortunately I didn't even take my camera yesterday so I don't have pictures. I knew I would not only watch and cheer for the Red Sox but also have to keep up with the other boys. They have a playground which Blaine loves which luckily I could see from where I was sitting from both fields that our team played on. I still walked over often to see Blaine and he was always there until the last time, at the end of the first game. I went over to get him and heard someone call out my name. I looked over, it was a lady from our church and she was sitting at another field and she pointed on her field. I looked and there I saw Blaine. He was ON the field and not only that, he was RUNNING THE BASES on the field, in the middle of the game. I stood there in shock for a moment and then began running around to the other gate on the other side to retrieve him. I cannot imagine the sight of a 19 week pregnant woman running like that with her arms flailing and yelling for her son. It had to be humorous because people were doubled over laughing. I was not. Anyway by the time I got out there he was on his way to second. I was actually glad that I knew several people on that field from church so they knew Blaine (and me of course.) One mom/coach picked him up on his route to second and was bringing him over to me. The crowd stood and cheered as we made our exit. I was mortified and didn't live it down the rest of the very long day. By the time I got off the field, another lady from our church had already asked her oldest son who is going to be a freshman next year, if he would watch Blaine for me. Blaine loves Cooper and Cooper loves little kids. He followed Blaine around and did whatever Blaine wanted to do. I owe that boy something. By the end of the day, as teams were eliminated and we were still there(!!!!!!!!), I was able to let Britton go play on the playground with Blaine. I could see them from our field and still went over and checked on them often. They both had a blast, especially Britton because he felt so big to be "left" over there!
It was a very long, hot and tiring day! The boys are still recovering today, because they ALL took very long naps.
Here are pics that I took at Friday's game when my mom and Rick were here and able to watch the boys so I could take pictures!!

Brandon hustling to take his position behind home plate!!

look at him...the next Jason Varitek (the Red Sox catcher!)

(proud mom here!)

he loves playing catcher!