The past couple of weeks have gone by in a blur, all of it related to one ballgame or another. Nearly every night of the week is booked with practice or a game, the price to pay for the rain-outs earlier this spring. Nearly every weekend is filled with a tournament--or two! The littlest ones, bless them dearly, they just roll with whatever is on the agenda.
This weekend saw us dividing and conquering yet again. Matt and John flew south to meet up with the team for the East Cobb (GA) Tournament of Champions. The Flames faced tough competition against the warm-weather teams in pool-play. They lost their first game in double elimination bracket play, won their second, then faced familiar competition from last year's CABA World Series against Gravel Baseball (IL), being eliminated after a 19-11 loss (Matt told me they made an outstanding comeback from an initial score of 19-2).
Meanwhile, Lizzy, the two littles, and I headed to northern Kentucky for the Sluggerfest I (10U/12U divisions). This was the third tournament weekend in a row for this first-year "select" team, and the first time the girls had to face a day of playing four games. The first three games were nearly one right after the other, with only about a half-hour break between the second and third games. The parents brought coolers of food and drinks, snacks, tables, and canopies to set up outside the ballpark fence. (Apparently this is a BIG thing to do at softball games...some teams even bring grills!) The girls lost their two pool play games, entering double elimination bracket play as the #4 seed in the 10U "B" division.
After their first loss in bracket play, there was a long gap between games. Since Liz was hot, tired, and frustrated after losing so many games (carried over from the last two tournaments), we packed up our stuff and headed back towards home to watch the little boys' Little League game. My in-laws graciously offered to have the little boys sleep over and to take them to their game since Matt was out of town and I was unsure if I'd be able to get them there on time because of Lizzy's schedule. I could've left Lizzy with her team, but since she has inherited Familial Hemiplegic Migraine from Matt, I'm not comfortable leaving her with someone who isn't familiar with the symptoms and how to care for them (the condition often mimics stroke symptoms and can be frightening for all the first time around).
After we got to see both boys at bat (a double, hit past 2nd base, for Drew; a single for Connor), we headed back to KY for the last game. The girls probably played their best defensively all season, with the exception of one inning where they were throwing the ball around instead of getting it in to the pitcher's circle. It had been a close game (8-7, the other team in the lead) until then..the other team scored 4 runs on those fielding errors! Coach put a stop to the throwing around and we held them in the last inning, but lost 12-8 (I think?). All in all, we were away from home for over 12 hours....we left at 7:15am and got back at 9:30pm. A looooooong day!
Later this week we will be gearing up for our 12U Flames Summer Classic, which Matt is coordinating. We have 44 teams coming from 7 states, with some very good competition from "cold-weather" teams. While it would be nice to see the Flames play some of their better baseball at their own tournament, it really is a significant fundraiser for our team.
At the end of June we will be heading back to Cooperstown Dreams Park (Week #4). It's a little less than 3 weeks away, but I'm sure those 3 weeks will go by as quickly as the last 3! I am beyond excited about this trip. We have rented a house for a week with the in-laws, staying only 2 miles from the ballpark. It should be a fun break for all, and I hope to have some free time to meet up with Angela and her crew.
