Bringing Home the Hardware

Spring sports awards were last night. I'll post pictures later. Elizabeth and Aaron both brought home honors in basketball. Besides their all -district selections (Elizabeth, 2nd team, Aaron, honorable mention) which we already knew about, they also received some team awards. Aaron received the Hustle Award. It is one he often gets for his effort both in practice and in games. Elizabeth was awarded Offensive Player of the Year, averaging 8 points a game, with a season high game of 18 points. 

The big surprise came in softball. This being Elizabeth's first year of varsity softball, she didn't expect any accolades. But she was named 2nd team all-district AND Newcomer of the year for the district!

A fun evening of wrapping up the year in sports.

End of an Era

The girls lost their regional playoff game today, 11-1. We gave up all the runs in the first and seventh innings. They played well in between. While we are sad, it certainly gives us some breathing room in our schedule, which is nice. But more than a loss, we realized it is the end of an era for us. No more will we watch girls' sports where we have a vested interest in the players or the outcome. It's a bittersweet ending. On the one hand, we've been watching Elizabeth play something since she was 5 years old. On the other hand, now we only have one boys' team to watch each season, which shrinks the amount of games on our calendar. 

It's been a fun ride, but we are excited to see what new things we will get to experience with our daughter!

1st playoff win

One game down, three more to go!

We honored our five senior girls before the game tonight, then we went out and tromped the other team, 12-0 in five innings. Elizabeth struck out her first at bat but had a great single over the first baseman's head that garnered an RBI. In the 7-run bottom of the 4th, she grounded out to 2nd but got an RBI on that one as well. 

One more home game next week. If we win that, it's off to the state semi-finals/finals tournament. One game at a time, but they sure are looking good!

Finishing Strong

Middle School baseball ended their season on an up note, a 13-3 win! They really did play great, in spite of some questionable calls by the umps. Nathan played third base for the first two innings and pitched the last inning. At the plate, he walked, grounded out to first (although our coach swears he was safe!), and hit a TRIPLE into left field! His pitching was good, too. He gave up a couple of hits but picked off the runner on second base for the first out then struck out two batters in a row to end the game. A great ending to middle school sports!

Elizabeth's team is finishing strong, too. They are playing a few, good, larger schools to get ready for playoffs. Tonight they beat one of those teams 8-5. All we know is that she was 1 for 3 at the plate.

TWO WINS!!!!

Yes, the varsity boys team WON today!!! Woo-hoo!! They pulled out a 9-5 victory. Aaron was the DH for his friend who played 2nd base. He struck out, hit an amazing lead-off double over the head of the left fielder (and eventually scored), and hit a pop fly to shallow center field that was caught. It's the first game I've been to and it was so fun!

Elizabeth's team, of course, won again. 10-2. Elizabeth had a single and 2 RBIs and she threw a runner out at 2nd. 

A Win and A Loss

It's the usual: a win for the girls, a loss for the boys. The girls are officially District champs now, although they have one more game to play before playoffs. 

Aaron, apparently, had a walk and a strikeout. Elizabeth went 0 for 3, but made a GREAT catch in right field to stop a rally by the other team at a crucial point in the game.

Softball and Baseball

Elizabeth's team sewed up the district championship (even though there are 2 more games to play) with a 22-2 win. Elizabeth had 1 pop up for an out and 2 hits--both of which came in the same inning! If they keep playing like that, a run for the state championship isn't such a pipe dream.

Aaron is filling in on the varsity baseball team while they have a few ineligible players. He played 2nd base today. He walked on his one at bat but was thrown out stealing 2nd. Obviously these coaches haven't seen him much or they'd know he isn't fast enough to steal!

3-0 in District

Today, the girls showed they could overcome adversity and pull out a win. Up 6-0 in the 4th, they began to flounder. Suddenly, it was 6-6. It remained 6-6 going into the final inning. That's when our girls stepped up to the plate--literally! They scored 4 in the top of the 7th and held the other team in the bottom of the inning. They won, 10-6.

Elizabeth had two strikeouts and two singles (well, on one she reached on an error actually) and fielded one ball cleanly. 

Now we head to our home field to play three more district games before we head into the playoffs. The girls know the district title is theirs to lose. Hopefully, like today, they can dig deep and come up with victory.

Another District Win

The girls racked up 14 runs versus their district rival yesterday afternoon. They allowed only 2 runs to cross the plate for the other team. Elizabeth struck out twice but hit on her final at bat and got credited with an RBI as well. She played right field and threw out a runner going to first base! More district play later this week.

A Chilly End

We braved the 25 degree wind chill for our first game this morning, which we won 14-0. Elizabeth was hit by 2 pitches (she's okay) and hit a good double.

We knew the second game would be much harder--and we were right! We lost a heartbreaker, 3-4. Elizabeth struck out, walked and singled as well as caught 2 pop flies. We just came up a bit short. 

But all in all, they did well, playing close with the bigger schools and annihilating the schools our size. That, we hope, bodes well for district play and on into the playoffs. We'll see!

Football Weather for Softball Games

Elizabeth's team is in a softball tournament this weekend. That wouldn't be so bad except a cold front moved in this afternoon. It went from 69 to 42 in a few hours, with about 20 mph winds. Needless to say, it was not fun sitting in the cold (which most of us weren't totally prepared for) watching softball!

Here is a brief summary of the three games:

Game 1: We won, 10-0. Elizabeth had a double and a walk.

Game 2: We lost (to a bigger school), 6-9. Elizabeth had a great bunt which scored a run and she made it to 3rd on the overthrow. She scored on a passed ball. She also struck out for the final out of the game.

Gam 3: We won, 10-1. Elizabeth hit two doubles and a single, scoring each time on overthrows or passed balls.

And guess what? We get to brave the 30 degree weather in the morning to do it all again. Yea, us!

Back to the Bases

Well I really thought the games today would be rained out, but after a quick, hard shower, the sun and wind dried everything pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the games were still kind of a bust.

Elizabeth's team played a district rival--except that no umpires showed up! So they scrimmaged. They won, but it didn't count.

Nathan's team also played an area rival, but one whose "school" team is playing in a competitive league and has players (most of the good ones) that don't go to the school that is our rival. (Did you follow all that?) We got trounced 13-1. Nathan had a good stop at shortstop. Not such a great throw, but the first baseman made a good play and we got the out. He struck out once, walked once, and got thrown out at home plate. He also came in to pitch in the last inning with bases loaded and no outs. Given the situation, he did ok. He struck out one. Gave up three hits (all but one had fielding errors), fielded a ball hit back to the mound and threw out the player coming home, and caught a pop fly to end the inning. Not bad for not having thrown at all during Spring Break AND having both his Tetanus and Hep A shots this morning!

District Play Begins

The girls began district play on Monday with a 5-4 win! Their pitching has been tremendous with fielding and batting pretty good, too. But the difference in close games comes down to our aggressive base running. They are brash in their steals, even stealing home when the ball is in the hands of the pitcher! We'll see if they can keep it up, but so far so good.

A Blowout and A Squeaker

Elizabeth's team won 21-4 today. In 4 innings. Elizabeth had two singles, two RBIs and scored a run. She also hit two grounders straight to the first baseman! Because of the big score, she got to play 2nd base in the last two innings after starting in left field. Can I just say? It really isn't fun watching a blowout game like that.

Nathan's team, on the other hand, got down early, 4-0, but they battled back, starting with Nathan's double into center field. He then scored the first run on a passed ball. They had battled back, but were still losing 5-4 when Nathan came up again. This time he singled to left, stole 2nd, then 3rd, then home on another passed ball to tie the game 5-5! We scored one more run and won the game 6-5! I just wish I'd been there! He played 3rd base.

A big win

The softball team had a big win today over a bigger school. Our girls led the whole game, but the other team crept up, little by little, until, in the bottom of the 7th inning, we were only up 5-4. Now, at this level of softball, one run is not that much. Believe me, we were biting our nails in the stands!

But our team came through. The center fielder made a great catch of a big pop fly. Then our pitcher, who pitched the entire game, dug deep and struck out the last two batters! Great job, Lady Eagles!

Elizabeth had a pretty good game. She caught a fly ball in left field and had a nice hit to right. Her other two at bats she hit grounders to the second baseman and got thrown out at first. 

Tournament Play

Elizabeth's team is playing in a tournament, although Elizabeth only played today's games since she has her first ever debate competition tomorrow. Don't know if she'll make it back to play in the championship game or not!

Yes, they won both their games and will play for the trophy tomorrow. Elizabeth played well--2 for 3 in the first game with 2 RBIs, including the one that broke the 0-0 tie and opened the floodgates so that we won 10-0. The second game she was 1 for 2, scoring and driving in runs as well. 

Jeff got to watch her play today. I'm hoping to get to go next week.

The Season is Underway

Elizabeth got to play shortstop in the team's 18-12 victory this afternoon. I didn't get to go. She bunted and made it to 2nd. She also struck out, had a sacrifice bunt, and walked. She scored two runs. 

Playing Softball

Elizabeth decided to play softball as her swan song this year. In all her other years of high school, she has avoided this sport 1) because it isn't her favorite, and 2) because the constant throwing tends to hurt her shoulder and she didn't want to injure herself for the next basketball season. But she wanted to play with all her friends one last time, and since there are no more basketball seasons to "save" herself for, she decided to play.

The team participated in a two-day tournament this weekend against larger private schools and a few smaller public schools. They came away with 4th place, 3 wins and 3 losses. They kick off regular game days this week, so I'll keep you updated. As for her tournament stats--she told us she scored a few runs and stole several bases. She mostly plays right field and bunts or walks when she is up to bat! We haven't had a chance to see her play yet, but we are looking forward to it.