She's no Curt Schilling

Hannah's Little League team started out this season as "coach pitch". A few games ago they switched over to "kid pitch". I didn't figure that Hannah would ever actually do any pitching. She loves playing but her heart definitely isn't in it like some of these little boys who are fantastic at the game. The really cool thing though is that she is game for anything. She is the only girl on the team and nothing seems to intimidate her. I was really surprised when they asked her to play catcher one day but she loved it. She has done it a couple of times since then.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day for a Little League game. Tracy and I were sitting on the hill in the sun watching the game. Her son Hunter is also on the team and in the videos below he's the one catching. Lincoln had Jake off playing in the shade but was standing and watching the game.
As a new inning was starting we watched Hunter get suited up to play catcher. All of a sudden I could have sworn I heard the coach say "Hannah" and "pitch" in the same sentence. I looked at Tracy and said "What did he just say?" and then up at Lincoln who was looking at me with an equally astonished look on his face. Yep, Hannah was headed out to the pitchers mound.

Hannah is okay at baseball. I would say she's average at batting, catching, and throwing but she doesn't love the sport enough to practice when she's not at a game so she's not great at it. I was a little worried she wouldn't be able to pitch and people would get frustrated with her. She was a little wild and she did load the bases with a lot of walks (and give up a few points along the way) but no one said a single thing about it. Even the boys that are really intense about their baseball were very encouraging about her pitching. Tracy said she was impressed that Hannah even agreed to do it and said she didn't know if Hunter would have. Hannah managed to get a few good ones across the plate and a few boys managed to get hits off of her but she did awesome.

Despite my nervous laughter in the videos I was incredibly proud of her. Like I said, she shows no fear out there and absolutely no self doubt. It is amazing to watch such a self-confident little girl handle herself in a "boys world".

I think my favorite part is at the end of the 2nd video when Hunter throws her the ball and she misses it. Another kid scoops it up and tosses it to her and she misses again as it heads back towards home plate. Instead of getting flustered or embarrassed she makes a joke of it and just yells "It's not keep away!" That's my girl.

Little League Photo Time Again

Here is Hannah's official Little League photo for this year. Two consecutive years of good pictures. I love it.

Way to go Hannah!

Hannah had her first little league game tonight. She was up to bat three times. The first time she got tagged out at first base and the other two times she got a base hit with bases loaded. She got two RBIs and eventually making it to 2nd base each time before the end of the inning. Considering she was the only girl on either team she definitely proved that she can hang with the boys.

Little League Season is here again

Tonight is Hannah's first Little League practice of the season. She is the only girl on the team again. Technically there was one other girl on the team last year but she rarely ever participated so it didn't really count. I'm really bummed that I'm missing practice tonight but I've been out of work way too much lately between our trip to Niagara Falls, being sick last week, and my surgery earlier this week. She is really excited to play again this year although now she has moved up a division so I'm wondering if she realizes that game play may be a bit more intense this year. It will be interesting to watch.

Little League Queen!

Hannah had her first Little League practice today. It was supposed to be practice and a game but that didn't work out since we didn't seem to have a team to play against.

Last Sunday was the Loyalty Day parade here in Upton. I know it has some deeper, patriotic significance than this but basically it's just a chance for all the kids playing t-ball, little league, fast pitch, etc. to walk from Memorial School to the VFW. Having grown up in Decorah, to me a parade should be like the Homecoming Parade of the Nordic Fest Parade. Huge floats...lots of candy...beauty queens waving from the back of convertibles....but not here in Upton. This parade consists of a police escort, color guard, surviving VFW members (of which there are about 7), a fire truck, and then all the teams walking (yes, walking...no floats) down the street. That's about it. Some teams throw candy but most don't. The entire parade lasts about 5-10 minutes. Afterwards everyone gathers at the VFW and there are some speeches, a few hot dogs, and that's it. We didn't even stay past the singing of the anthem. To be honest, Lincoln took the kids home for Jake's desperately needed nap and Tracy and I took off for mani/pedis. Denise joined us a little while later.

Anyway, getting back to the story about Hannah's first practice. The first one was scheduled for Monday but we've had a few days of rain and it was rained out. She has practices and games every Monday and Wednesday so today ended up being the first one. The practices are supposed to run from 6:00 - 7:00 and then the games from 7:00 to 7:30 so I should be able to make most games if I leave work on time. Today I left a little early and got there shortly after practice started and Hannah was having a blast. They practiced fielding, throwing, and batting and Hannah did pretty great at all of it. She was particularly good at batting but some of the boys on the team still blew her away. There are about 9 kids on the team....only 2 are girls....1 of which was afraid to get up and bat. Hannah really held her own against the boys and has the grass stains on her knees to prove it.

Above is a picture of Hannah getting ready to field some balls. Hopefully Lincoln will get some videos up on YouTube soon. Red Sox territory is a rough place for a kid to learn to play ball....Hannah let one go between her legs while fielding the ball and Lincoln teasingly called out "Way to go, Buckner!". For those of you not obsessed with Red Sox lore, first baseman Bill Buckner let a ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series which ultimately led to a Game 7 that the Sox lost costing the Red Sox a World Series Championship.