Baseball Season.

Baseball is upon us! In January when it was time to register the kids for Baseball, I was really excited about the thought! Lola being 4 years old meant she was old enough for t-ball! When I asked her if she wanted to try it, she said “yes!” loud and clear. The first baseball league in town is for 4-6 year olds and I thought “how perfect, I’ll request for them to be on the same team and it’ll be so cute!” — this is, of course, not what happened. And quickly, my excitement about two kids playing baseball faded. (ha!)

I registered them, but because this is Javi’s third year, he got bumped up into the next league. T-ball, meets twice a week and the A league meets two-three times a week. This means that each week this Spring, we’re on a baseball field 4-5 days times. We also discovered that despite me asking, and confirming that a child can do BOTH town baseball and town lacrosse (and being told “oh yes! do both, they don’t conflict!”) — they do, in fact, conflict. 🙂 So, some weeks, Javi skips baseball to play lacrosse.

Lola had her team meet and greet a few weeks ago. She’s on the Black Bears and she’s number 1! She was so cute and so excited and so INTO it. Two days later, was “Opening Day”. A seven hour day complete with a parade, a ceremony, skills competitions, individual and team photos and more. It was a lot. The parade included a mascot from a nearby local baseball team and it scared Lola so much that she started to run BACKWARDS in the parade. Let’s just say, she was not happy to be there! She’s brought up this event every day since.

We’re a few weeks in and she’s with a great group of kids and has really great coaches. The practices are a little long for her (she’s usually ready to be done after 40 minutes.) She spends a majority of the game picking dandelions and putting small sticks into her baseball glove. She takes unannounced water breaks and needs snacks to continue. She’s the first to run to the ball when it’s rolling in the outfield and she’s not afraid to dive into the pile of kids (on her own team) to fight to be the one who gets the ball. She’s even hitting the ball when she’s up at bat. She says that’s her favorite part.

Javi is number 7 on the Skywalkers! He has a competitive streak that he definitely didn’t get from me. He loves all parts of the game. He’s getting better at hitting the ball, knowing when to run (and he’s quick!) and when it’s a foul ball. He’s learning to pay attention and to stay in his position and get the ball if it comes near him. He’s getting better at throwing the ball, too. While Lola was petrified by the mascot, Javi and his teammates were living their best life!

The saddest part about the kids both playing but being in different leagues is that their games often conflict and they don’t play at the same field! Which means Sean and I have to divide and conquer. This past Saturday, I took Lola to her game and Sean took Javi. He said he played so well! Hopefully this week, we’ll swap and I can watch Javi play and Sean can watch Lola pick dandelions. 🙂 🙂

Eva is along for the ride and very happy to be a little hype girl. She cheers them both on and claps for everyone. I can tell that she’s going to want to play as soon as she is allowed!