Baseball Season

Well another baseball season has come and gone.  It has certainly been a year of ups and downs.  Ryan once again played for the Marlin tearm.  This year we had a few more exprerienced players and we had a much better overall record this season than last year.  It was fun for the team to have a winning record.

Ryan was the one and only pitcher on the team.  Others were eventually trained but none of them were as consistent and fast as Ryan.  At this level, the pitcher makes or breaks the team and Ryan could only do so much.  Usually his coach put him in the last half of the game to pull out a win.  We would then have to come from behind to win it and we actually did quite often.  Ryan is a great pitcher and has lots of natural talent for it.

One of Ryan's strengths as a player is his level head.  He is normally cool and collected during the games and it appears that nothing will phase him.  I, on the other hand, pace nervously behind the backstop and have a hard time watching a lot of the time.  This year,  Ryan started to show a lot more emotion.  You could tell when he was feeling good about his performance by his facial expressions and even an occasional fist pump.  But on the flip side, you could also see his frustration and occasionaly the pressure got to him.  He had an especially difficult time with his batting this year and he would pysche himself out often.  I found this hard as a parent and so wanted to help him.  This year was a good learning experience for him to focus on controling his emotions and eventually just having fun with playing ball.

Ryan played exceptionally well during the tourniment.  In fact, as a pitcher, you are only allowed so many strike-outs per day and week.  Ryan his his quota and eventually couldn't pitch anymore.  One night he played 2 games in a row and pitched to majority of the time.  He loved it, in spite of the pain he felt in his arm afterwards.  Unfortunately, once Ryan was pulled as pitcher, we could win the game and our season ended. 

Overall it was a great experience and Ryan still loves the sport.  We are hoping to find him an acclerated league to give him some more experience and good training.  We will see what happens.

Crazy with the Cousins

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our cousins are down visiting from Idaho. Since we all have Felix blood in us you must understand that we constantly have to being doing something or going somewhere at all times. This week was no exception, thus the lack of posting until today. Don't get me wrong, we had a ball until the point of exhaustion.

On Thursday we went to Classic Skating to see if we could wear the kids out. After nearly 4 1/2 hours of skating, scootering, bike riding, jumping, climbing, game playing and so on, we came pretty close. In the end though, I think the adults were still more exhausted. I didn't take my skates off the whole time. I especially enjoyed playing the different games on the skate rink and trying to help my kids and nieces and nephews win prizes. It was fun to dance the funky chicken and the hokey pokey while on wheels and trying to keep my 4 year old balanced. It was a great time had by all.

That night Maddy, Dallin and Logan spent the night with us. It is nice to have quality time with our cousins (especially at 11:00 at night when they are all supposed to be sleeping). The next day was filled with more playing until we went to Grandma's house. We had a big sleepover in her basement which is always a hit. We played badminton and on water slides until the mosquitoes scared us away. It was another night of very little sleep (especially for the adults since we stayed up reminiscing about the "olden" days"). It was sad to part ways the next day and yet a relief at the same time. I am glad my children enjoy being with their family and I hope they can maintain those relationships when they are older.

Also, this week was Ryan's last baseball game. It started out in a torrential downpour. They finally called a rain delay only after everyone player and spectator was soaked through and through. After 30 minutes the game was started once again. Ryan did fairly well, although I think the wet and cold effected his pitching somewhat. It was a tough game and we lost after rallying in the end to bring the score to 9 -5. Ryan was quite sad not to move on in the tourniment and he is already in withdrawals for his favorite sport.

Brianna also had her last soccer game on Saturday. It has been quite the experience for Roger and I to coach a 4 year old team. It took great amounts of patience especially to quell the frustration Roger felt many times throughout the season. Brianna overall had a great year but I am not sure we will coach her team again. She just didn't like cooperating for her parents even when they were talking to her as coaches. This last game was a nightmare. Roger wasn't there because he was home planting a tree in our yard (a monstrous thing that came from the Millington's yard so it was no easy task, but looks wonderful in our yard. Thank you guys for the tree). Anyway, I was alone coaching and Brianna was soooo tired from the crazy week. She had at least 3 meltdowns right on the field. When I tried to sub her out she threw a fit in front of everyone. I was at a loss of what to do and was a little embarrassed. A wonderful neighbor came to my rescue in the nick of time to save Brianna's life. I was quite glad when the game was finally over. Brianna then informed me that she is ready to do dance now. We'll see . . .

Ryan and Brianna also started swimming lessons this week. Fortunately it is in the Petersen's pool which is only 2 blocks away. I love the convenience of it and the fact that the kids feel like they get to swim everyday even if it is only for 1/2 hour.

The rest of the week was a blur with exercise, church commitments, rain everyday, and endless refereeing on my part with the kids. Oh how we love the summer.

Baseball is my "Passion"

I think we finally found something that Ryan absolutely loves. Baseball. He informed me that baseball is his passion. This is quite surprising coming from a boy that is so even keeled and rarely shows strong emotion for anything. But I must say that I would agree. Baseball is his passion. He could play non-stop and never get tired of it. He wants to practice all of the time. An old mother like myself can only play catch for so long before I feel the aches and pains of it. And yet he could keep going. He plays with dad, any neighbor kids that will oblige and there have been countless hours of wiffle ball games in our backyard. My boy loves this sport.

It has been a wonderful season for Ryan. Not because he has been part of a winning team with a great record. In fact it has been quite the opposite of that. But he has had a very supportive coach that has allowed him to flourish under his guidance. I've seen Ryan grow from a timid player, only understanding half of the time what was going on, to a person that controls the game with confidence and poise. He went from greatly disliking batting to being anxious to hit that ball. He started out decent as a pitcher and now even I will admit that he is good. Really good.


Last Friday's game Ryan pitched all 5 innings. It was against the number one team. During that game Ryan had 12 strike outs as pitcher and caught 2 fly balls. There was only one out made by another team member. Ryan also scored the only run of the day. He was truly the star.

This week we started the "playoffs". Granted we went into this knowing that we wouldn't last long in the double elimination tournament. Well the Marlins came out as a different team. Ryan pitched 3 innings and did excellent. He also hit a double bringing in 2 runs. Going into the last inning we were up 6 to 3. I tell you, Ryan's cool and even personality is perfect for sports situations. He acted like he felt no pressure. His dad on the other hand paced back and forth the whole game and his mom couldn't even watch the last inning. (I have no nails left . . it was definately a nail biter). Well they pulled it off and won!! It was so exciting and such a boost of moral.

They immediately walked off the field and right onto another one to start their next game. We played the number 1 team again. We drew first blood and scored right away. Ryan then played catcher which is another position that he loves. His friend pitched 1 1/2 innings and then fell apart. They pulled him out and put Ryan back in as pitcher. He was tired but he pulled it off. He pitched well. Unfortunately we had too much of a deficit at that point to come back but the team still made us proud.

I tell you that I saw more excitement and emotion come from my son that I ever have before. He was in his element. Roger and I were completely drained by the end but he was on a high. I think it is much harder to be a spectator than to actually play the sport, especially as a parent. I hope I can handle many more years of this because I see a great future for Ryan in baseball.

We had lots of fans at the game. The cousins came as well as Grandpa and Grandma. It is such a fun family activity and I appreciated the support.

Baseball Boy

Ryan is absolutely loving baseball this year. He has a great coach that is kind and yet knows his stuff. He has a lot of parental support (including his own dad) that helps with practices and the games. His team is young and inexperienced. We don't have a very good record so far this year, in fact we have struggled. But Ryan is in his element.

He has been playing the positions of third baseman, catcher and pitcher. Being catcher this year is a new experience and he has enjoyed the challenge of it. There is a lot of action there, and Ryan loves that. Plus he has an excellent arm which allows him to throw those long balls to second.

But ultimately he is a pitcher at heart. I feared when he signed up for the 3rd/4th grade team that he would not have the opportunity to pursue his love. But I was wrong. Only him and one other boy come close to having the talent to throw that ball across the plate. Ryan can throw hard for his age and is pretty accurate. He wants to practice everyday and Roger and I take turns being the catcher for him.

He has done pretty well in the games so far. Last game was his best yet. The first inning he pitched he had two strike outs and three hits. He caught a pop fly so in essence he made all the outs. The next inning he struck out three batters in a row. He had no walks the whole game. It was terrific to watch.

I am very torn about his new found passion. On one hand, it makes it a lot more fun to for me to watch the games. Baseball moves a little slow for me but when he is in the center of it all there is always action. On the other hand, that is a lot of pressure. That is not to say that Ryan feels the pressure. He gets up there like he doesn't have a care in the world. But I can't even sit in the bleachers. I pace back and forth and cheer and even cover my eyes at times. It is tough being the parent of the child everyone is watching. I worry that he will mess up and people will get angry at him. So far, our team has been so supportive but I still worry. I just wonder if it gets easier with time or even more stressful.

Anyway about it, baseball is here to stay in our lives for awhile.