All Stars
July 1st, 2007 by 
cowgirljules
No, I don’t think they made the playoffs, but they’re sure as hell All Stars to me.
This team had kind of a rocky start; they weren’t too organized and it seemed as if the other two teams at our school had sniped off all of the bigger and better boys. And we never did beat another one of our own school’s teams, but man, have they improved.
Saturday’s game was the best. They’ve won two before, but those were sort of hollow victories, as that team (it was the same both times) were really small kids, probably on the young end of eligible. For once, with those guys, we didn’t look like the underdogs.
But Saturday, oh Saturday. We were playing one of the best teams, a bunch of corn-fed farm boys who creamed us in our first go-round. And they held their own!
It was a real cliff-hanger there at the end, when we were ahead 11-10, but they had one more at-bat. And our boys did it. First our star pitcher struck two out in a row, and then the third kid up got a great hit, way out into right field where we were short players. And damned if those boys didn’t get it in, relaying it through the shortstop right to the third baseman, who tagged that big boy out right in the nick of time.
We won, and our crowd went wild! It was the first really satisfying win we’d ever had, and the kids’ faces showed it.
This has been a great season; they’ve come so far and are starting to really work as a team.
I’ve been shamelessly using them to hone my photography skills too. It’s an easy subject; boys working hard at something make great subjects, and I’m learning the technical end of it. I get some great photos out of each game (except this last one, which was surrounded by too high of a fence.) And the best part is sharing those photos. I make a CD at the end of the season for each kid, so they have something like the pros have. Action shots of themselves are really neat for them to have, and I wish I could see some of their reactions when they look at them.
I’m sorry to see the season end, but Tuesday is the last game.
Good job, boys!
Posted in Life |
July 1st, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Jules, what a treasure to give those kids! Your shots are great. Action shots aren’t easy!
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I was curious about something…Steven’s team consisted of younger and smaller boys while the other local team had the older more accomplished players. I asked the youth league director why the teams seemed so unbalanced. She said they do that so the boys will always play together as they grow up. So next year Steven’s will be the better team. Do you see the same happening there? Steven’s team did beat the other team earlier in the season and the other coach accused our coaches of cheating. Soured the victory somewhat, but man that felt good. Fantastic photos girl and yeaaah team!
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:45 am
Jo - I don’t know. This is our first year in County Summer League. It does work that way in Little League, but only after they get to the Majors, and they’re all pretty good at that point anyway. Minors try out and have a draft (Seamus is in that now) and Coach-Pitch and Tee-ball just draw names out of a hat. Different teams every year.
Go Steven!
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:10 am
Reminds me of the days when my son played little league baseball. So damn exciting!