Grassland Braves

Carter played in his first baseball game on Monday.  I unfortunately missed it because I had to coach Rylan's soccer practice (which he didn't even participate in because he fell asleep on the way there and was in a horrible mood when I woke him up).

Brian was with Carter though so I got a full report when they got home.  Carter played first base which we are all pretty proud of.  He even got the first and third outs of the first inning (of three) when the ball was hit to him and he stepped on first before the batter got there.

Carter got three opportunities to bat.  In this league, the kids get 5 pitches from the coach and then get  2 tries off the tee.  Carter ended up having to use the tee all three times but did get to first base each time!

Before the game Carter was telling me he was a little scared to play baseball, like he about hockey.  When he got home I asked him if it was scary.  He said, "No, it was actually fun!"  He even told me that his team won.  However, they don't keep score and the other team had a bunch of older and bigger kids and definitely won.  There are lots of rules to keep the game going and somewhat even so that the kids all get to play.  Innings are over after 3 outs or 5 runs.  All hits are singles unless the ball goes past the outfielders without anyone touching it (and then it's a double).  This helps because fielding is still really difficult for a lot of kids and all hits would be homeruns (especially with the overthrows).

Carter's second game was the next night (Tuesday).  We got rained out on Saturday so this was a make-up game.  Carter got to play first again.

And I took a ton of videos.

This is Carter's first time at bat.  He got the ball to the outfield on this one ...

Running home and scoring for the first time this game ...

In the third inning, Carter participated in all three outs.  For the first out, he fielded the ball and stepped on first.  Here he got the runner out at first when Riley threw him the ball from second ...

And here is Carter fielding the ball and getting the last out at first ...

Carter's second time at bat ... he hit it to the first baseman and got out at first ...

Carter's third time at bat ... he hit the ball to the outfield again ...

Carter is loving baseball.  He is one of the better players on the team and that is probably why.  Three sessions of Lil Sluggers is definitely paying off!  We are so proud of him trying so hard.