I have to brag a bit today about our middle boy Nate.
Currently he is playing baseball on our local PONY team. It has been an exciting season for the team. They are now in the Pinto league and that means the games are kid pitch. Last year it was all coach pitch, each team’s coach would pitch to their own players. In kid pitch it is just like a real ball game, with strikes and balls called by an umpire behind the plate. It’s a real challenge for both the pitcher and the batter. It’s also fairly boring for the outfield, because they don’t see nearly the same amount of action as they did last year since there are a ton of walks from balls being called and the occasional wild pitch that ends up clipping the batter.
Anyway Nate has been the lead off hitter this season and has been mostly on second base or catcher. That is until today.
Nate got to be pitcher. And it almost didn’t happen.
Larry dropped off Nate for the game and then went back home. Rebecca was not well and we felt it would be best if she was not dragged to a ball game. The plan was that I would go to Nate’s game once Max’s social obligations were over. At the last minute I decided to drop Max off at home instead of bringing him to the game. I knew he would be bored and I didn’t want to have to entertain him. As a result I was a bit late to Nate’s game and missed the top half of the first inning.
I walked up the field and saw Nate with the head coach. As I stopped to wave, Nate blurted out “Hey! There’s my Mom, my mom’s here!” The coach turned and looked at me and replied “Great! Let’s do it!”
Normally Nate is pleased to see me, but this was far and away the biggest reception that I have gotten since his pre school days. As I puzzled over the reaction I headed over to stands and was informed by the other parents that Nate was pitching and the coach had been stalling until my appearance. He was just about to pull Nate when I showed up. The coach likes to have the parents present when a kid pitches for the first time.
So of course I whipped out my cell phone and provided Larry with possibly some of the worst play by play action in the history of baseball. I didn’t know the score and my pitch descriptions were along the lines of “oh, I think that was good, I don’t know.”
Fortunately Nate did a far better job than I did. He pitched two innings (half the game). Both times he was up he walked the first batter and then struck out the next three. It was a pretty impressive showing for a first time out. Oh and as for the game, our team completely shut out the other for a solid win with Nate knocking in at least one run and scoring twice.
What a boy.
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