Little League baseball season has begun

So a few weeks ago I posted about my oldest son trying out for Little League. Well, last weekend was the beginning of the games for his team, and for my middle son's t-ball team.

I am the "coach" of the t-ball team and an assistant coach for my oldest son's team. I put coach in quotes for the t-ball gig because it is mostly trying to hold a bunch of 5 year olds attention. Keep them from laying on the ground or hurting themselves by not paying attention while someone whacks it off their squash.

Anyway, my oldest is actually the youngest on his team. He is a big kid for his age though and he basically looks like one of the 11 or 12 year olds on the team rather than a 9 year old. He has a great swing but has had to adjust to having other kids pitching to him. Up to this point, he has played coach pitch, or a league that used a pitching machine. With the 11 year old kids pitching, it can be intimidating for the kids until they get used to it.

His team lost both of their games last weekend. The first game was 1-0 and the second was 4-1. Both games saw very good pitching for kids at that age and skill level. We had watched a few minutes of some of the other games and the scores were much higher. It all came down to the pitching in the game.

As for my son, he got up twice in each game and struck out every time. There were some questionable strike calls but whatever. He was adjusting, but getting frustrated. At the same time, my 5 year old was dominating the t-ball circuit, lol.

Over the weekend, none of the games conflicted with the other. Tonight, however, was different. They both had games at 5:30pm. Since I am the coach for the t-ball team, I had to be there. Luckily, t-ball is only an hour, so I knew I would catch some of the Little League game after, regardless.

I got through t-ball with my son sitting on the side because he didn't feel well. This pissed me off, of course, because I was missing my other son's game to do it, and my son wouldn't even play.

Anyway, we rushed over to the other field and parked. As we walked up to the field, I could see the scoreboard, 17-1. Ouch, wonder if it is in our favor or not? We walk by a guy I know and I asked who was up. My son's team was winning. Uh-oh, what did I miss??

I walked over to my wife and she gave me a look like she was afraid to talk to me.

Me: "What did I miss?"
Wifey: "He hit an inside the park home run"
Me: "WTF? Of course he did"
Wifey: "He hit it over the center fielder's head and then they messed it up and he came all the way around."

I then realized he was up at bat right then. He hit a nice shot in the hole for a single. Woot. His team was really killing the other team and a couple minutes later he was crossing the plate. I met him in the dugout.

Drew: "I hit a grand slam"
Me: "You did?!?"
Drew: "Yeah, the bases were loaded and I crushed it over the outfielder"
Me: "That's awesome, congratulations. Sorry I missed it"

So, in his mind it was a grand slam. It was actually a double/triple with an overthrow that let him score, but still. It was a great hit over the outfielder. The coaches were raving about it when they saw me.

The next later in the same inning, he got up again and hit another shot up the middle. A nice line drive to the outfield. All in all, he was 3 for 3 with a walk. They stopped it as soon as the 4th inning was over because of the slaughter rule. It was 27-2, ouch.

He was especially excited because the coach gave him the game ball, which is something he does every game. It was a great night.