Scenes from the ballpark

This summer has been a whirlwind and it's already the middle of July.  Reina's softball season ended a few weeks ago and Will's baseball team plays in the semifinals tomorrow night.  I started this post in late June and I'm finally getting around to finishing it.  

Reina played on the Rockies this year and she had a great season.  She was on a team with 9 and 10-year olds with a mixture of experience.  On last year's team, they used a pitching machine but this year, the girls pitched.  For the first few weeks, Reina played some innings in the outfield and some at shortstop or second base.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up to see the team take the field and my girl head to the pitching mound!  I'm used to fighting the nerves when Will pitches but I wasn't prepared for #9 to pitch.  She was a trooper.  Many of the pitchers have trouble throwing strikes and I'll never forget Reina's first one.  She'd thrown a couple of balls and tossed the next one towards the plate and the ump said "strike!" and Reina looked up in surprise and gave a quick first pump before throwing another strike.  

That's my pitcher!  

Shortstop waiting for some action. 

Softball ready!  

Reina is still on the fence about whether she wants to play next year and she doesn't need to make a decision today.  It sure is fun watching her play.  On one of the last games of the year, Reina was pitching and the batter hit a soft liner right back to her.  Reina stuck out her glove and caught the ball for the third out.  I jumped up and screamed and wanted to run out onto the field but it was only the first inning. 

This is Will's first year in the Majors.  The league has all of the same rules as the actual Majors, with the only exception being that the field is smaller.  So kids can steal bases, including home.  Some pitchers are developing curveballs and sliders but most of them just try to get it over the plate as fast as they can.  Will's team had some ups and downs throughout the season.  They won the first game of the tournament last Monday, lost on Friday and then won two exciting games on a super hot Saturday morning.  They play in the semi-finals tomorrow night and I"m not sure who's more excited... me, Glenn or the actual ballplayer. 

Glenn taking his job as assistant coach very seriously.  

Look at that handsome pitcher!  

He was warming up in this shot because probably wouldn't tolerate me peering through the fence with my camera during a live pitch.