Back to Baseball

Once upon a time, there was a little boy....a little boy that loved baseball. He started playing in Rookie camp. Then he played in T-Ball and then machine pitch and then coach pitch...those two might be switched, I don't remember.....and then finally it was kid pitch. And the kid got to pitch. Here's the kid pitching.

He was pretty serious when it came to baseball....especially for a 3rd grader.

Go Billy! 3rd grade baseball was one of the cutest things ever.

And then, all of a sudden, my boy grew up. A lot of baseball has happened since these pictures were taken in 2004. There was the year of the 4th grade league championship, then travel ball, then getting away from pitching for a couple of years, then the State championship as a 13 year old, then the disappointment of getting cut from the 9th grade team and cut from travel, and now playing in the in-house league again. Yep, a lot of growing up. And you know what, my boy has taken it all in stride....and he is pitching again.

A lot can change in 6 short years....and a lot can stay the same.

The in-house league that Billy is playing in is made up of 8th and 9th graders. Billy is a very tall 9th grader....I can't imagine what some of the littler guys think seeing this tall guy facing them from the mound.

I wasn't sure how he'd do with pitching...it's been 3 years.....

.....he was feeling confident about it though....so I should have known.

He's had two games now, in the first game he pitched the 1st three innings....

....he struck out 8 batters in those 3 innings. The highlight of the game for me was when he threw a curve ball that didn't curve....and he it the backstop up high. It wasn't the pitch that was the highlight for me, it was the sheepish smirk on his face afterwards. Relaxed, having fun out there....able to laugh at himself. I like it. He got to pitch in game 2 too...4 strike outs in 2 innings....he's building confidence, he's smiling.

He's having fun batting too. I love it that he still has the same routine at the plate that he's had for a long time.

He gets in the box, raising his right hand to the ump until he's set.

And then he zeros in. I could watch him play everyday.

There were other kids playing too...and had some exciting plays like this one.....

....and it's fun to watch them too....but it's this kid that I've got my eye on.

He's done a lot of growing in these last few years....not just in height...and I couldn't be prouder. Life is good.