opening day

Saturday, the day before our visit I just wrote about, was baseball. It was opening day for the little league. Jack's early game meant we had to be there at 8 in the morning. Rylee had a game midafternoon, and in between there was a brief ceremony for opening day. The day could not be more perfect. There were games going on on every field all day long. Foul balls landing everywhere. Cheering. There were even some vendors and mascots and free samples. The concession stand was warming up its grill for green chile cheeseburgers.

Rylee's game felt strange, because I viewed it through the cage of an umpire's mask, calling strikes and outs and fouls. I had to volunteer. It's a struggle, too, because going into this season, Ry really wanted to be in minors league and we held him back. He often practices with Jackson's minor league team. Ry is guaranteed a good position to play on his team, since he has the skills, and he's delighted learning to play first base. He also got some great hits that went into the outfield. He was second in the batting lineup. He ran the bases well. He scored. The level of play is a bit frustrating, although he does not express it. Most of the players cannot field a ground ball and throw a ball, let alone know where to throw it. Rylee fielded the hits that came in his direction and made the out but otherwise not many fielded balls made it to first for an out. The season's young but I am afraid Rylee did not get the opening day spark Jackson got. This weekend was Jack's, and I wished more for Rylee, who was also coming off a week of tough cold symptoms.

Jackson started his game in left field. He played some excellent back up. A high fly got lost in the sun when one came to him, but I'm not worried. I've seen him shag fly balls pretty matter of factly. He played third, too. He was second in the batting lineup. He got some great hits, also going into the outfield. One came on a first pitch after a perfectly timed fake bunt. He scored a few times. James pitched first, then Nnamdi pitched two innings. Jack began pitching the fourth inning and then again in the fifth. As I told a coach of Jack's from the last several years, it was 6 up, 6 down. A no hitter. No walks. He struck out, I think, three, both swinging and called. Jack recalls one sucker pitch he threw. One batter got a hit, a line drive which the short stop behind Jackson leapt and caught. One I just don't remember. But the final out was a solid looper out into right field. The batter rounded first. The ball stopped in the grass.The right fielder chased down the ball. The runner rounded second. The right fielder threw past the cut off man to the short stop near second who fired it to third. The third baseman caught and tagged the runner a step from the bag. The crowd went wild! The team went wild, congratulating each other. A nice way to start the season.

I told somebody else how we weren't sure if Jackson would play baseball or soccer in the spring. Jackson had a great season of soccer last fall, and he can play again next fall. But there is a spring league, and his coaches hoped he'd return with the other players. We weren't sure where he stood in baseball for this season. Jackson said to me at the last minute, you know, Dad, if I don't play baseball this spring, I may never play again. Ah, I think he made the right decision.

The ceremony was short but late and it ate up the middle of our day. The boys hung around with their teams and ran out onto the major field as their teams were announced. All the teams lined up from first to third. A few awards were given out, and we finally went home.