Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Baseball....again!

WARNING: Lots of pictures. Just sayin....
I'll start by saying that Austin LOVES baseball. He doesn't really have the focus to watch it for any length of time, but he really does love the sport. He especially loves to play. Before we moved, I looked into leagues in North Carolina. I couldn't find any that started after we moved. They all started in March/April from what I could tell. So we asked him if he wanted to join a league in Arkansas, but that he wouldn't be able to finish, or did he want to just skip this summer and try and do something else when we moved to NC. He chose to play as much as he could and we signed him up for a league in Fayetteville, AR.
After we had already started the league, I was on a site for Fort Bragg wives and someone mentioned that the Fayetteville (NC) YMCA had baseball starting in May. I looked into it and they started right after we moved there! I called, got him signed up and then we told Austin. He was SO excited!
The first practice was 6 days after we got into town. We showed up for practice and they gave them their shirts and hats and a schedule for the games. Their first game was the NEXT day! Wow! They move fast!
This is Austin on the day of his first game. He was really happy they were the green team...his favorite color is green!
IMG_1905
Little brother makes it hard to watch the game, but he is following in his Daddy and Brother's footsteps and wanting to play too!
IMG_1917
Watching from behind the fence.
IMG_1913
Waiting for his turn to bat.
IMG_1919
All ready to play...even has his batting gloves on!
IMG_1921
Proud Daddy and little brother (aka The Rugrat!).
IMG_1925
On deck.
IMG_1928
In this league, they do a combination of coach pitch/t-ball. Each player gets 3 pitches from the coach. If they don't get a hit, they get a chance with the tee. The coach was pitching a little high to Austin, but at this age, they think they have to swing at everything!
IMG_1932
First time up, he didn't get a hit from the first three pitches, but hit a great hit off the tee. I don't know when he started letting go of the bat with one of his hands, but I guess he thought it looked cool.
IMG_1944
Colten was getting tired of watching at this point. I brought the soccer ball thinking he would play with it, but all he did with it was use it as a chair.
IMG_1953
Austin's second time at bat, he hit one of the pitched balls! We knew he could do it, as he's been doing it for a while in the backyard. Aunt Nancy bought him a kids pitching machine, so he's been practicing. It meant a lot to him to do it in the game though!
IMG_1961
Running from 2nd to 3rd. Brian says he looks faster than he did last year. :-)
IMG_1969
Getting some instruction from a Dad at 3rd base.
IMG_1973
Sliding into home...something he does almost everytime. :-)
IMG_1977
Austin had a blast. He and Daddy have worked on some things since this game and he's really excited for his next practice and then for the next game. One of the things they've been working on has been what to do when going up to bat. Before, he would walk up there and act like he had no clue what to do. He bats left handed and he would let the coach set him up to hit right handed. He would just stand there waiting for him/her to position his legs and everything. At home, he knows exactly what to do. So, Daddy has been working with him and we're hoping he gets up there and does it himself!
All I know is that Austin has been hitting the heck out of the ball lately and his confidence is soaring! I can't wait to watch him this weekend!

1 comment:

MBC Scrapbooking said...

Your youngest in his little baseball jersey makes my heart melt! My son is about that age too- I love it:) So cute;)