The season's over...

[MKW]

Baseball season, that is. My 11yr old son, Andy, plays tournament/travel baseball 10 months out of the year and we had our final tournament of the year this past weekend...and WON it!! The boys were really excited because this end-of-season tournament payed off in USSSA rings for the players rather than the normal trophies. Andy is the shortstop and lead-off hitter. I'm quite proud of him. He didn't want the season to end and I must say that I'll be ready to get back going in Feburary. It's a lot of fun and some serious baseball. Here are a couple of pics...the first 2 are pics of Andy doing what he does best...STEALING! Better watch him! And then the pics of the team.
Sorry if this is off-topic, but I love this stuff!!








Mike

[guesswho]

Cool! Congrats to him and his team-mates. Some people would think he's anticipating a pick off and cheating towards first in that first picture, but the catcher in me tells me thats for the push when he breaks. I used to love me some baseball. Won state four years in a row. Wish I had a dollar for every inning I caught in my life.

Pretty cool deal with the rings too, I haven't heard of that before. Again congrats to the Rebels, job well done!

[ICDEDTURKES]

Very nice.. Know you were excited.. Nothing like sports to teach kids life lessons.

[MKW]

Thanks, Ronnie. And you are quite correct...he "loads" his left leg in order to get a good push towards second. He's pretty fast and catchers hate to see him get on cause he's a smart base runner. In the first game on Sunday, we were ahead by 2, 1 out, with a runner on 3rd. Andy was on 1st and got a huge lead and forced a throw-over. He got caught in a run-down and was out at second, but the run on 3rd scored. He came in the dugout all smiles...said, "up by 3 is hard to beat...I'll trade my out for that run." How could I argue that??

Mike

[guesswho]

Hard to argue with reason You can't win without runs

[aristico]

Congrats to you and your boy Mike.....

[Hognutz]

Awesome stuff. He sure 'nuff looks like a player. You can see that a mile a way..I played ball my whole life. Longer than I should have. It's becoming a lost sport. They'd rather play video games, and heaven forbid...Soccer. Bunch of lawn fairies....Nice stuff, Mike....Congrats..

[Ticeman]

WTG Mr. Andy!!! proud of you bud! Just REALLY glad you look like your Mama, that's for sure!!

[FuzzSawyer]

Congrats! They forgot to bend their cap bills...

[vaturkey]

Good lookin son you got there MKW. He DOES look like a diehard baseball player. Hope he has a great future in it. Good luck to Andy .

[MKW]

Thanks, y'all. And, he does absolutely love to play. He plays all-out, all the time! While he didn't quite get to this ball hit up the middle, he gave maximum effort and that's what his coaches like.

This one he had to charge pretty hard. It was just in warm up, but I like the picture.



Mike

[Hobie]

Congrats to Andy and his team mates on winnning the Rings

[timbrhuntr]

10 months a year thats alot of baseball. Glad he likes it, its a great sport.
I coached my daughter in softball for years. Our team went to the Softball Little League World Series and a few years later to a USSSA World Series where they lost the final game to Bay City Mi. Those were good times and I believe that playing team sports turned into the great person she is today. Enjoy it while you can.

[MKW]

10 months is a lot of baseball. I don't push him to play, but I do push him to be the best he can be if he does play. Funny thing is...we practice on Tues and Thrus every week durring the season and when I picked him up from school today, he said, "Dang, I sure wish we had practice today." Oh, I also have a 14yr old daughter that plays softball . This is the first year that she hasn't played travel ball since she was 10yrs old and that's only because with our recent move, I couldn't find her a team and she needed a break. She starts back up in Feb also. It's a great family activity and all of us love it.
Back row, far right...


Mike

[guesswho]

Back row far right looks like a Dude with glasses. She must take after you.

[hawglips]

Congrats to Andy! Great pics!

[ICDEDTURKES]

That girl in the back left next to you, makes you look like should be kneeling in the front

[timbrhuntr]

Man thats awesome. Good for you and even better for your kids.

I think Tom is jealous he shouldn't be though because I would think he is always in the front row.

[TRKYHTR]

Tom are you throwing out short jokes? Now thats funny.

TRKYHTR

[Jaybird]

Wow! That's a lot of Baseball in a year. All my kids played, but the 4 boys were more interested in playing all sports than dedicating to just one. My 2 girls also played Softball, which is big in my area. Funny you mentioned the pick off move at 1st, because my son at 1st in a regional game after we won State, pulled the same move on my call to get the runner at 3rd home to win the game. Good play with a burner at 3rd to get a runner home, if the opposing team isn't watching closely for it. Glad to see your boy is doing so well, and doesn't look like he's getting burnt out on it, which happens with some dedicating to one sport.

[Turkey Talker]

congrats on a good season and another awesome memory made!

[chatterbox]

That's awsome, Mike! He looks like a baseball player for sure!
My son Harrison loves baseball as well. If I had the cash, he would be on an AAU team, no questions asked. Not sure if he would make the cut, but the quality of coaching and amount of baseball played is worth all the sacrifices!
Job well done to those boys and their coaches!

[guesswho]

but the quality of coaching and amount of baseball played is worth all the sacrifices!

Good point. A coach can either hold back natural talent or help it excell.

[MKW]

but the quality of coaching and amount of baseball played is worth all the sacrifices!

Good point. A coach can either hold back natural talent or help it excell.

Very, very true. Andy's current coach has a son that got drafted out of high school, last year, by the Rays, but turned it down for a full ride to the Back-to-Back National Champion, South Carolina Gamecocks. In the SC fall workouts, he had the most homeruns and most triples on the team and will be the starting center fielder, as a freshman. The point being...this coach knows what it takes and how to get there, so he will be very good for Andy. He tells me that Andy has what it takes, if he stays with it...we'll see.
Thanks for all the congrats...I have passed them on to Andy.

Mike

[Stinky J Picklestein]

Keep it up, Andy! It sounds like he could use another Vegas trip.