Crossing the Finish Line

Aaron finished 7th in the 800 at the regional track meet, so our seasons have all ended. I'm so thankful, really! We all need a break! And I'm glad for him that he didn't wind up dead last. He hates that! So we'll hang up our game hats for awhile, do a little working out in the summer and hit it with football two-a-days in August. Of course check back for news on sports awards and academic awards and the like, as well as news of Elizabeth at the close of her first year of college!

It's such a busy, wonderful time in our lives. I'm so happy you can be part of it through this blog!

Ending on an Upnote!

We got a win--in our district! We went into the last game with nothing to lose. The other team was playing for a playoff spot. Through the first four innings, we played well, managing to stay ahead by 1 run, 6-5.

In the fifth inning, Nathan came in as relief pitcher. They tied it up 6-6.

Into the top of the sixth, and our bats got hot! We scored 9 runs and batted around!

Nathan gave up a two-run, over-the-fence homer in the bottom of the sixth. Two more runs scored on errors. We went into the final inning up 15-10. We ended the game on the score of 20-11.

Nathan pitched great. In his three innings, he had 4 strikeouts (including the final out of the game) and 0 walks. He also hit the ball hard, reaching base three times on clean hits, not errors. All of our players got at least one hit in this game.

We have a lot to build on for the coming years and a coach who is looking forward to walking the journey with them, so its all good. But it's so much better to end a hard season on the upswing!

Extra innings!

One of these days they are going to win a close one. And this was almost it.

After 6 innings, we were losing 10-6. In the top of the 7th, we managed to score 5 runs! Wow! So we went into the bottom of the 7th up by 1 run. They scored one, tying the game at 11. A batter was up with one out and the winning run on 3rd base. The ball was a high fly to the outfield, that was caught, but the 3rd base coach and the runner didn't wait to see the play and he ran without tagging after the catch. The runner was already past home base. We threw to third and tagged the bag and we were out of the inning.

But we just couldn't hang on. They scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8th. Still, we not only battled back, we battled back to get ahead. Mental errors were our downfall, and plenty to go around.

Nathan pitched well and hit well, and those things should only get better in the next three years. I think we still have a rainout game to makeup but don't know if that will happen. I'll be glad when this season is officially over!

Lo and Behold!

Aaron qualified for the regional track meet in the 800 meter race! Wow! We are shocked! He even had to dig deep at the end because the 5th place runner was on his heels. But he did, and beat his previous best time by around 10 seconds!

He managed to get 5th (we think) in the triple jump, which doesn't move on to regionals but did get points for his team. His 4 X 400 relay team also came in 5th.

So I guess it's one more track meet for us!

Two More Awful Games

Two games in two days. Both awful in their own ways. The first involved a two hour drive to get there. But then we were so pleasantly surprised! We led 4-1, then 5-2, over a non-defeated district team. But with one bad inning, it was tied again, 5-5. Then the other team pulled ahead by 2 and we went into our last at bat. We put runners on base. And move them. Our 6th run was coming in from 3rd base. The throw made it to the plate. Our runner jumped over the catcher to avoid the tag. But the ump called him out anyway. Our coach protested--very politely, actually--and was thrown out for the first time in his 25 year coaching history! It was awful. Even some of the parents for the other team admitted their catcher didn't make the tag. On the up side, Nathan had some good plays at short and put the bat on the ball every at bat, even if he didn't always make it safe to first. His final hit of the game was an especially hard zinger up the middle. He was on third base when we got our final out of that game.

From there, we moved to a game a bit closer to home. Nathan took the mound. He'd been pitching well this season, but watching him today, you'd never have known it. Nathan averages 1-2 walks per 7 innings. Today, he walked 6 in two innings! Couple that with a few hits and a few errors and we were done after 4 1/2 innings, losing 11-1.

It hasn't been a fun season, but our coach is encouraged for the future. After all, we start 4 freshmen and 2 sophomores!

Prom 2010

Another prom is over and done. Aren't they a cute couple?

Three Good Innings--And Three Bad Ones

It was a game of extremes. When we were good, we were very, very good. And when we were bad, we were horrible. Nathan started the game on the mound. He struck out the first batter, caught the second batter's line drive, and threw out the third batter at first. The next inning, he struck out the first batter, walked a batter, and threw a batter out at first. The last out came on a long fly to the outfield. By inning three, we were pumped. Down 2-1, we again got our outs quickly, easily, and without errors or mistakes.

Then came the fourth inning. Nathan walked a batter. An error caused another to reach base. And another. And another. The runs started coming hard and fast. We had two outs, finally, but couldn't close. Error. Error. Error. It finally got to Nathan's head. The coach put in another pitcher and moved him to shortstop, where he committed an error. (I think every player on the team had at least one!)

We got run ruled in the 6th. I think the final score was 16-3. At the plate, Nathan was thrown out bunting twice. He finally did reach first late in the game--on an error.

Three more games next week, then the season is over. We had been so encouraged by their improvement at the beginning of this game. It was so painful to watch by the end.

Another Big School Track Meet

This time it was bigger private schools instead of small public schools, but the results weren't much different. Aaron's longest triple jump was 32 feet, well short of placing. He ran a pretty good race in the 800, finishing somewhere in the middle of his group of 16. I know the other boy from our school finished behind him and ran a 2:37, so Aaron was probably around 2:32 or so. The 1600 (mile) was an interesting race. His coach asked him to run the first lap almost full out, which he did. Of course it meant his total time was less than desirable--5:40--but that first lap was good--1:10 or so. Because of that, he may end up running the 400 at district. I guess we'll see.

District meet is next week. If he qualifies for regionals, that will be the next week. I don't imagine he'll make it to the state meet in anything, and my guess is that is just fine with him!

Another Nail-biter

We did it again, battled back from behind only to lose by 1 run. Final score, 6-5. I hate that!

Nathan played shortstop. He had a couple of errors but also a couple of good plays. He reached base once on an error and grounded out the other two times, including for the final out of the game. It's a crazy end of the season run with 5-6 games over the next two weeks. But then it will be finished. I sure hope this coach comes back next year. He's making some great progress with this young team!

Marathon Baseball

You'd think a seven inning game would be a quick thing. Especially for a young, inexperienced team like ours. But once again we met a district rival and stretched those seven innings over a period of three hours. 

Nathan pitched all seven innings of our loss. The lead went back and forth, and even though the other team pulled ahead by seven or eight in the fifth inning, we fought back valiantly, losing only 12-9. 

Nathan did pitch well. He struck out several and walked two. He also hit two batters in the late innings when he was tired. (He doesn't usually hit batters.) At the plate, he managed to make it on base with a walk and an error by the first baseman. (And maybe once more, I can't quite remember!)

All in all, we see improvement in our team with every outing. But three hours is still a long time to pitch--and a long time to sit through a high school game!

Another Meet

Aaron ran in another track meet on his birthday. This one was entirely public schools, but smaller ones. Still, a big bit of competition for our little guys! He did triple jump and the 800 and 1600 meter runs. He finished last or next to last in all of them, but his mile time--5:38--came close to one of his best times last year. Still, it wasn't where he wanted to be on his birthday!

My Cute Chef-in-Training--and Her Amazing Food!

In her uniform!

Roasted Red Pepper soup garnished with basil and a toasted slice of homemade bread.

Green salad with cucumbers, carrots, walnuts, and a homemade dijon vinaigrette dressing.

Blue Cheese stuffed tenderloin with a balsamic vinegar glaze and blackberry butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. 

Chocolate Molton cake with white chocolate and raspberry sauces and fresh whipped cream.

Coming up short

We hung in there for four innings. In fact, we were up 4-3. Then we gave up 4 runs and couldn't make them up. So we lost 7-4.

Nathan played short stop again. He struck out, walked, and hit a grounder to first.

A Rough Day

Yes, we lost again. 11-1 after 5 innings. Nathan didn't start on the mound, he came in in relief in the top of the 4th inning and struck out the final batter the end that inning. The 5th inning he still pitched well, striking out the first batter. But two pop-ups were missed in the field. Two other batters had nice base hits to outfield. And finally the last batter hit a grounder to second base and we turned a double play. In the bottom half of that final inning, Nathan made it to first on an error, stole second, made it to third on a grounder where the batter was out at first, and then arrived at home plate to score our only run on another error by the first baseman.

All in all, a pretty ugly game.