my big little man

so, colton is in the middle of his first season of official little league. you may be thinking...is there really a difference between little league and the parks and rec leagues? let me answer you by saying........"ummm...yeah." i was not initially aware of these difference until shortly after we started. the uniforms are more official; they practice more; they have more games; they have longer games; they had an opening day with a parade; oh...one of my favorites...they have a concession stand; and it is waaaaayyyyy more competitive to name a few. colton is in the dixie league. this is, from what i can tell, when it gets serious. he had to go to try outs where the "scouts" watched him bat, run and field and then "drafted" him to a team.when we got to these tryouts, we saw the pitching machine set up on the pitcher's mound and i thought colt's eyes were gonna bug right out of his head. he said, "i can't hit a pitching machine!!!!" chad was out of town so i had to pretend i knew what i was talking about and walk him through it. well...there was no time for warm up and he got up there and swung at 5, missed 4 and fouled off 1. he's pretty fast...so he had that going for him. and he has a pretty good arm...so his tryout ended with him obsessing about being the worst batter in the world. in the beginning, i complained about how much they were having to practice...it being on a school night...etc. etc. etc. however...the other night made it all worth it. here is how the story goes.

colton has been steadily improving all season and is somewhere in the middle of the batting order. he rarely missed, but he always grounded it mid field somewhere. he had a late game a couple of weeks ago where during both his at bats, he struck out. he was visibly frustrated and developed a less than desirable attitude at home as a result of his "1 game slump". so...here we are at his next game. "get back on the horse." "shake it off." "quick bat." he was feeling in pretty good spirits when i dropped him at the field, annnnd i "accidentaly" left his "unlucky" bat at home. i told the team mom who stays in the dugout with the boys that we wanted him to use another kid's 17 oz bat. (his is 19 oz.) his first at bat, he struck out. uh oh. this is not going to be good. he came up again and tension was high. he was a bundle of nerves and i was yelling from the stands that it was his turn. "you have this, baby." 1 pitch...strike 1. 2nd pitch...strike 2. "come on colton...you can do this!" 3rd pitch...SMACK!! a beautiful line drive down the 3rd base line to the fence!! i could barely contain myself. i was not even embarrassed by my pregnant belly flopping around as i jumped up and down in the stands. everyone went nuts because he knocked in our leading run. as he stopped on second base, he gave the ole' fist pump to the sky and adjusted his batting helmet as if he was biggio, berkman, or bagwell. that won him the game ball that they give out after each game. what a complete thrill!! at his game on friday night, he hit a sailer into the outfield that landed perfectly between the outfielders and then went on to catch a pop fly at 2nd. i think his confidence is back and the "1 game slump" is behind him. i'm so proud of my little ball player. i can still see him, at 4 and 5 years old, practicing for hours in the backyard...glove in hand...pretending it was bottom of the 9th; tie game; he makes the winning play. i remember thinking...i bet that never comes to fruition. who would have known!!

take me out to the ball game. as long as it's colton's.