Since it's the middle of March, Sonya is in full baseball season mode. She had her first game a couple of weeks ago. This year she plays on a coach pitch team. I wasn't sure she was going to play at all this year though. I'm not sure why, but by the end of the season last year, and all summer, she kept telling me she didn't want to play again. She did such a great job last year and seemed to love it. I wrote about it here and here. I don't know if she was burnt out with all her activities by June, or she was nervous to go from T-ball to coach pitch, but she was adamant that she wasn't playing again. I let it go and didn't bother her about it for a while, but then sign ups came around in December. I managed to convince her to play again this year and see how it went. If she hated it by the end, I would never make her play again. So far, she is enjoying it even more this year, and I am putting a check in the good pushy mother category for myself. Well, so far.
There are few reasons why it's better for her this year. First of all, the team she is on this year, The Cardinals, really has their shit together. The coaches know what they're doing and they're great with the kids. Figuring out how to hit the ball when it's not on a T has been a challenge for her, but it's been a challenge for most of the kids. She is starting to get the hang of it, as they all are. She is also on the team with her best friend since she was 10 months old, Carter.
Carter and his family moved about an hour and half away a couple years ago, but this past December they moved back. When Sonya was going to try outs for baseball in January, I told Stacy (Carter's mom) about it and mentioned they should sign Carter up. They decided it was a great idea. We did a little finagling and managed to get the kids on the same team. This has helped to keep Sonya's interest in wanting to go to practice, because she gets to hang out with Carter. It has also renewed her interest in playing the game.
She did well the first game of the season, but I could tell she was still a little nervous about doing this again. Especially since the T was gone. The good news was, the T came back after any kid couldn't hit the ball by five pitches. During that first week, it was all of them. So, T-ball was in effect that first game. The second game, everyone seemed to pick it up a little more. Sonya did end up hitting off the T her first at bat. Her second time up, she did a bit better. She was down to her last pitch before the T came out, but no need. She hit the pitched ball. So what if it was more like a bunt and rolled a few feet in front of home plate. It was a fair ball, that she hit! The other team had to scramble to get it, and because my girl is one speedy runner, she managed to make it safe on base before the ball was thrown. This started a rally for her team. Every Cardinal hit the ball and headed for base. They scored quite a few runs, although I'm not even sure how many. They don't keep score at this age.
She played extremely well, defensively also. During the second inning, she was playing the pitcher position and a ball was hit to her. She stopped it, thought she had it, then quickly realized it had dropped out of her glove in front of her. Any other kid would have become frustrated and moved more slowly to pick it up, not sure what to do. Trust me, I've seen it. Not Sonya though. She spotted the ball on the ground, grabbed it, turned and threw it with precision right into the glove of the waiting first baseman, making the out just in time. Despite the mistake she made, she kept her cool and managed to get the out. The kid seems to know what she's doing.
The coaches apparently agreed. After the game, while the kids were having their snack and listening to their post-game talk from the coach, my little girl was presented with the game ball. I, of course, choked back tears. She was so excited and proud. Andy and I even more so. I mean, we know it's only Little League, but it's so great to see your child do well at something. Especially when it's something they love. Even if she fell out of love for a few months, it seems to be going strong again.
Congratulations Sonya! Here's to many more great games to come!
There are few reasons why it's better for her this year. First of all, the team she is on this year, The Cardinals, really has their shit together. The coaches know what they're doing and they're great with the kids. Figuring out how to hit the ball when it's not on a T has been a challenge for her, but it's been a challenge for most of the kids. She is starting to get the hang of it, as they all are. She is also on the team with her best friend since she was 10 months old, Carter.
Carter and his family moved about an hour and half away a couple years ago, but this past December they moved back. When Sonya was going to try outs for baseball in January, I told Stacy (Carter's mom) about it and mentioned they should sign Carter up. They decided it was a great idea. We did a little finagling and managed to get the kids on the same team. This has helped to keep Sonya's interest in wanting to go to practice, because she gets to hang out with Carter. It has also renewed her interest in playing the game.
She did well the first game of the season, but I could tell she was still a little nervous about doing this again. Especially since the T was gone. The good news was, the T came back after any kid couldn't hit the ball by five pitches. During that first week, it was all of them. So, T-ball was in effect that first game. The second game, everyone seemed to pick it up a little more. Sonya did end up hitting off the T her first at bat. Her second time up, she did a bit better. She was down to her last pitch before the T came out, but no need. She hit the pitched ball. So what if it was more like a bunt and rolled a few feet in front of home plate. It was a fair ball, that she hit! The other team had to scramble to get it, and because my girl is one speedy runner, she managed to make it safe on base before the ball was thrown. This started a rally for her team. Every Cardinal hit the ball and headed for base. They scored quite a few runs, although I'm not even sure how many. They don't keep score at this age.
She played extremely well, defensively also. During the second inning, she was playing the pitcher position and a ball was hit to her. She stopped it, thought she had it, then quickly realized it had dropped out of her glove in front of her. Any other kid would have become frustrated and moved more slowly to pick it up, not sure what to do. Trust me, I've seen it. Not Sonya though. She spotted the ball on the ground, grabbed it, turned and threw it with precision right into the glove of the waiting first baseman, making the out just in time. Despite the mistake she made, she kept her cool and managed to get the out. The kid seems to know what she's doing.
The coaches apparently agreed. After the game, while the kids were having their snack and listening to their post-game talk from the coach, my little girl was presented with the game ball. I, of course, choked back tears. She was so excited and proud. Andy and I even more so. I mean, we know it's only Little League, but it's so great to see your child do well at something. Especially when it's something they love. Even if she fell out of love for a few months, it seems to be going strong again.
 |
| Coach Marvin presents Sonya with the game ball. |
 |
| Sonya, Carter and the game ball |
No comments:
Post a Comment