Take me out to the ball game

This was Evan's first year to play baseball. After properly assessing his skill level in our backyard (we have the greatest neighbors who tirelessly throw the balls back over our fence) we skipped t-ball and went straight to Junior Coach Pitch.

The first time I saw him in uniform I almost died!! I mean, these kids looks SO flipping cute in their uniforms! I was so happy to be a baseball mom. Someone asked me if I was excited about it because I played. After I caught my breath from laughing so hard, I tried to explain. He's played soccer and I wasn't this excited. Watching him play basketball would be painful (Book genes...sorry dude) and football just scares me. I am not sure what it is....I like watching him play baseball.

Junior Coach Pitch allows every team member to bat. Each child gets 7 tries to hit the ball. It was a great intro into the real game. Evan was great at batting. He hit the ball every time, but once, when he got up to the plate, the whole season! While there were kids hitting home runs every now and then, for E's first time playing, I was so proud of him!

Evan was so lucky to have two of the best coaches! What I loved about them is they were more concerned with the kids learning, having fun and improving their skill than winning. This was a complete God thing. We signed up too late to play on the team with all the St. George's boys, but Evan wasn't too concerned and neither was I. He just really wanted to play. So we had no idea who we'd get for a coach. When we were placed, I learned his coach was a friend of mine from high school's husband! But when I say it, I mean it, Coach Matt and Coach Corey were a GOD send for Evan. Exactly what he needed.

But it was fun when we did play the all SG boy team! They were so cute catching up during game. :) (Photo cred: Stacy Smith)

Evan's biggest improvement was fielding. He learned about grounders and pop flies. He now consistently catches throws in the backyard. Toward the end of the season he got a couple people out during the game!

 

He's super sad it's over, but I promised he could play again next year.