Wednesday, April 29, 2009

ITS [almost] OUTTTAAAA HEEERREE!


Last night was the 3rd game of Carson's first t-ball season. So far, its been adorable. Lots of reminders for the kids to pay attention. And we find that dirt-play really can be time consuming.

In our League we play 3 innings (with an optional 4th or 5th if time remains.) Each inning, everyone hits through the line-up and there are no official outs. The final "up" of the inning is a "grand slam", so everyone runs home.

Last night was a thrill. Carson was last in the line-up, so a guaranteed grand-slam the 1st and 3rd innings. The 2nd inning, he batted 2nd. The 1st and 2nd innings he had decent hits. Both straight out towards the pitcher and 2nd base. Carson was looking good.

And then the 3rd inning. Another cute inning from the players. But the dugout coach miscounted and announced the next to last player as the last player. While the head coach never heard this and never made the announcement that the kids should all run home, the 1st base coach did here "last hitter" and told all the kids to run. And while the kids are all running in, Carson is getting ready to bat. And I'm yelling from the side "no! there's one more player!" Because the last thing I needed was a 5 year old full of tears because he didn't get his grand slam.

Coach John realized what happened right away and made sure the Diamondbacks (opposing team) remained in the outfield. The dugout coach sat all the kids down on the bench and told them all to "watch and cheer for Carson." And Carson made his way to the plate. With the cheering behind him.

A swing. And a crack. The ball flew beyond 2nd base, bounced and rolled. To. The. Fence. Carson admits he "watched the ball for one second" before he started running. By the time he was at 2nd base, there was a pile-up of 4 Diamondbacks in the outfield. And as he was rounding 3rd, the ball was being thrown in. He did it. An actual t-ball homerun.

And the "crowd" of Rays and their fans went wild.

And the best part? As Carson comes back to the dugout to cheers and high fives, he yells to his teammates, "did you guys see that?!"

No comments: