Saturday, September 10, 2005

1st HR

Took the day off so we could make some progress on painting the kitchen cabinets. C is doing the painting, and it's coming along fine. I'm trying to help by clearing and organizing the stuff out of the cabinets, and doing other household stuff while she paints.

W has been filling in on the Shaw Park traveling Bronco team, the Raiders, playing with his friends Tanner and Brooks. They had games Tuesday and Wednesday, both losses to the Georgia Titans. W batted fifth in the first game and third in the second game. He was playing a lot of outfield, so after lunch today we went up to the field and practiced some.

Tonight they began a weekend tourney at Shaw Park, playing the Rangers. W's Raiders lost the coin toss and were the visitors. The first two batters reached, then the first pitch to W hit him on the foot, loading the bases. The next batter grounded into a force out at home, keeping the bases loaded with W on second. Little Jordan singled to center, driving in two runs, including W, from second-base. The Raiders scored another run in the second and two in the third, and led 5-1.

C had worked hard all day, and also shuttled A and M to their last 'Daniel and the Lion's Den' art class. As I was leaving to take W to the game, C was about to call it a day, and said she might make it to the game, as she had missed the first two games this week. She showed up not long after the game started.

W didn't get much action in center, where he played the first and last two innings. He played second-base the second two innings, where he caught a popup and made a putout on a force play. He did do a good job of hustling out to his position, and making strong, useful warm-up throws.

W came up in the 4th inning with one out, and with a one ball one strike count, drove the ball deep into left-center, far over the fence, into the trees for his first-ever over-the-fence home run. He didn't see how far it cleared the fence, but as soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone. He hustled around the bases with his head down, but a big grin on his face, and leaped onto home plate, where he was mobbed by his teammates. W said that he heard Brooks' dad call out as he rounded the bases, for W not to smile so big.

As W took the field for the top of the 5th, he called to me, pointing to the outfield, asking me to retrieve his home run ball. I reached in my pocket and showed him the ball...Brook's little brother had gone out and tracked it down.

The Raiders won the game 6-2, and W was the only one to score two runs. To celebrate, we dined at Moe's. They play a doubleheader on Saturday...the first game at 9 am, the second game at a time to be determined.

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