T-Ball

Last summer, two of Connor's best friends played t-ball for Idlewild. Connor wanted no part of it. This time around Connor was game. So he, Max and Ayden signed up, we bought a couple of camp chairs and water bottles, and my life as a soccer mom got underway.

We had a month or so of weekly practices, about half of which got rained out. So on the occasion of their first game, last Monday, they were about as green as a team could be. This lead to some very entertaining action, as kids danced, looked for clovers in left field, ran in every direction on the basepaths, and stood in left field hitting each other. And to a man, they all were entirely too concerned about picking up their hats if they happened to fly off while they were running.

My favorite sequence was once when a ball was hit right by the shortstop, who was busy inspecting his glove (which was not actually on either hand at the time). This kid didn't even flinch as the ball flew past him, so the third baseman ran after the ball, chasing it into left field. As he got to the ball, an outfielder started yelling because he was supposed to get the ball. So the third baseman, who had now reached the ball that was lying in the grass in the outfield, simply left it there and turned around to run back to his original post. You won't be surprised to learn that the batter safely made it home, while the crowd in the stands wiped away tears of laughter.

Connor did a fine job. He spent some time at first base and at third. He ran super-fast on the basepaths, occasionally threatening to pass the runner in front of him. He payed attention, stopped a lot of balls from going into the outfield, and had a lot of fun. But one time while playing first base, a ball was hit that rolled right past him before he realized what was happening. Ever the perfectionist, he told me after the game that he felt bad about missing that ball. I assured him that he still came out looking pretty good, relative to some of the other spectacular plays we had witnessed.

The game was over pretty late for us, so we came home, hosed both kids off, and got them in bed. As I tucked Connor in, I told him I was proud of him and that I couldn't wait for the next game on Thursday. "Thursday?" he moaned. "I don't think I can handle this twice a week!" But he did. Thursday's game was just as fun, and our team seemed to have a better handle on things overall. This could be because the game was earlier, or because they didn't have first-game jitters, but more than likely it was because Grammy brought a cooler full of Capri Suns for the team to share. Whatever the reason, it was definitely a success. And since we don't keep score in this league, you'll have to trust me when I tell you that we won.