Two Boys' Baseball Seasons

Baseball this year was a topsy-turvy, tragic, triumphant adventure for both Dax and Seth. This was due to our first major sports incident.

Dax put together a 9-12 grade team that included a lot of his friends. As the team was shaping up, we thought, “These guys are REALLY good.” And they were. After 5 games, they were 5-0 and hadn’t really faced a challenge. Dax was pitching and spending a lot of time at shortstop. He was also hitting the ball really well. It was fun to have a dominant team. Then, before Game 6, he was pitching in the cage and got hit in the face with a line drive. He ended up in the hospital with skull fractures, and we weren’t sure he’d ever play again. 

But Dax’s team kept playing strong. They kept winning. Dax attended games on the sideline, and Dad was still coaching, even though we were less involved. Finally, as the season ended, we found ourselves at 10-0. 

The tournament went well, too. Dax couldn’t play, but he was always there for his teammates. They easily won Game 1. Despite trailing in the semi-final, they pulled out a victory and won 17-8. That left the championship against a team with only 1 loss (to us in Game 6 after Dax’s accident). 

Dax and Dad had to fly back from CA in order to make the championship game and Dax was thrilled because he was cleared to play. Unfortunately no one could hit the pitcher and Dax ended up having the only hit in the game. They lost 3-1. It was a great season and everyone was still smiling at taking second place. 

Dax hit really really well!

We loved playing at Patriot Park.

I don't have a ton of pics from this season.

Dax also pitched well. 

He was a great closer.

This was such a fun team!! 

Seth’s team had a rough season, too. His friend Blake was injured all season. We started off with high hopes, and we played pretty well in the first few weeks. But then two of the best players on the team didn’t return, and we had two super-league players that missed almost half the games in the rec league because they were at other games or practices. We limped into the City Tournament as a 4 Seed and dramatically won Game 1 in a walk-off in extra innings. However, with all the injuries and missing players, we couldn’t really compete with the #1 seed in Round 2. That meant we had to win the next game to qualify for the State Tournament, which we didn't do. Seth played really well. He played catcher a lot and had some really great hits. Hist best was a home run down the line that almost hit the fence on the big field. Despite being a shorter season, it was still a fun one. 

Seth is a good leader on his team.

Seth is a great catcher.

Mom loves watching her boys play baseball. 

Seth played one of his good friends Tyler. 

Seth pitched a little bit this year, too!

It was a good team!

Please note Randy's outfit! He forgot it would be hot and wore pants.

Note the umpire's outfit. We sent this picture to Mark since it was his buddy!