River Cats

This spring marked a big milestone in Liam's life as he joined his first sports team!  He was beyond excited to sign up for t-ball and even more excited to receive his uniform as a loud-and-proud River Cat.

After a couple of muddy weeks of practice, their first game of the season finally arrived.  I guess I'd never really been to a t-ball game before, but let me tell you--they are seriously fun to watch!  Kids running all over the place, picking daisies, making wonky throws, hitting the tee (over and over and over again)... and having the time of their little lives.  

League rules stated that each game is 2 innings, with every player batting each inning.  No outs, no score-keeping, and every hit is an automatic single.  This means that the last batter up hits an unqualified Grand Slam, and Coach Dennis decided to set up a simple rotation in alphabetical order so that each kid on the team would have the chance to experience the fame and glory of being that last batter.  There were 13 kids on the team, and as luck would have it, "D" was first on the roster-- so Liam was the first last batter!  Little did he know the surprise that awaited him at the end of the game... but I'll get to that in a moment.

Between being at the softball fields with us since he was an infant and the hours and hours of practice time he gets at Aunt Doreen's, Liam was no stranger to the diamond.  He took his game quite seriously!

When it was the River Cats' turn to bat, Liam patiently waited at the end of the line for his turn.

And here we go: batter up!!

It was a solid whack to the shortstop, and Liam took off at full tilt.

Surprise, surprise-- it was a grand slam!!

After the game, Coach Dennis surprised him with the game ball and had all of his teammates sign it.

He was So. Proud.  I loved that Coach Dennis did this for each of the "last batters" all season long until every kid had that experience.  It was awesome!

Some of our other favorite moments of t-ball season:

Picture Day.  You should have seen the outtakes!!  

Neil, who is one of Liam's buddies from preschool, was also on his team.  They had so much fun together!

Grandma, Nana, Grandpa, and Aunt Doreen all came out to see Liam's games this season.  Here he is cheesing for Grandma before his at-bat.

As the season went on, when Liam would come up to bat, his coaches would yell, "Big Hitter!  Move Back!!"

Last but not least, throughout the season we enjoyed a post-game dinner or two at Chipotle :)

A post about Bateman Day, which is UMBA's celebration for the last game of the season, is coming soon!