Saturday, April 26 2008
Max had his first baseball game today, playing for Chase and Lundt Insurance. He was so excited that he urged me to get up at 7am so we could go practice for the 1:15pm game. We got Gabe off to Demi Wack's birthday party at 10am and headed over to Perkins field with our gear. The weather was nice and sunny, resulting in a mild sunburn on my arms. We practiced hitting, fielding and catching in the dry dusty infield and ended up using the outfield grass for more training. I taught Max pepper and how bunting could help with hand eye coordination at the plate.

The excitement for the approaching game started off a couple days earlier. There was a practice Thursday night at 5pm. I arrived from work at the last moment providing Max with his baseball bat which he was happy to use. Leaving the practice, I scratched my bumper on another parked car which was more a blow to my ego than any damage to the car. This was the first time in 25 years of driving that I screwed up. But in the final analysis, it was so minor as not to be worth worrying about. After leaving a note on the windshield of the other car, we headed over to get a pair of game pants for Max at Amesbury Skate and Sport. We ended up getting a gear bag, helmet and mask, plus the pants and socks. The new gear plus the wooden Louisville Slugger bat that Neil provided just made Max feel more special.

It was really nice to be able to play on the nice Perkins field all by ourselves to get acquainted with the field and surroundings. We practiced for a long time and eventually other players and parents started to arrive. With 10 and eventually 11 players at the field we were ready to play ball. Lou Burridge shot photos throughout the game, so there will be some nice pictures up shortly.

Coach gator led the team through 6 innings of exciting baseball. There were plenty of highlights with the ultimate score being 9-10 in favor of the home team 'Exchange Club'. Our boys really stayed into the game, cheering on their teammates throughout the contest. Overall, there were the expected miscues of a first-game 9-10yr-old baseball team; but also some excellent examples of fielding, hitting, base running and pitching. In the field Max played center first, then moved to short stop and finally played some 3rd base. In center he got a ground ball that he threw in to second. At short stop there were a couple hard-hit balls that got through the gap. At third base he didn't see any fielding opportunities. At the plate, Max struck out swinging, walked, walked, and struck out looking. This was a severe disappointment for Max because he so badly wants to be a star hitter. I tried to coach him on how well he actually did accomplishing an on-base percentage of .500. I promised him that he would have his first hit, just as everybody on the team was sure to both hit the ball and strike out this season. He was very good on the base paths, stealing second on his first opportunity. He also ran and slid safely into third base on a grounder to third.

We practiced some more after dinner, and will likely play tomorrow. I'll be working on restoring Max's courage since I know that he is simply afraid of getting hurt like he witnessed in the first practice game. I think the face mask attachment to the batting helmet should help.