The Smell of Fresh Cut Grass…

The roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, yes, it is time for baseball again.  Opening night was last night (my daughter was supposed to play, but got postponed), and my son’s first game was tonight.  Wolverines (my son) at home against the Gators.

Beautiful 45 degree evening for spring baseball.  I was glad I was just coaching and not playing.  But the boys played a great game and pulled out a win, 8-6.  There were several times we got lucky from the mistakes of the other team, and a few times we made mistakes on our own.  But in the end, we pulled it out.  I say we because I was coaching third base.  I had a few mistakes, but we had a good game when it was all said and done.

But the story of the night is not me.  My son, Christian, had a great game.  In fact, it was probably one of his best games ever.  He played catcher for the first two innings and did a great job.  A few steals of second on him, and maybe one or two at third, but did some great stops to prevent any runs from scoring.  Another couple innings in left field where he was backing up everything.  He almost caught one fly ball, but it was just a little too short for him to get to.

His bat was great.  First time up, he hit a grounder to the right side to advance a runner, despite the out.  Secondt time up, he struck out swinging.  Sure it was a strike out, but compared to last year when he struck out standing there.  He was swinging, and anyone who has coached kids knows this can be a problem.  Final at bat of the game was a bases loaded situation.  He sent a fly ball to right center field for a double.  It would have been a triple, but the runner from first wasn’t very fast.  Christian was a step behind them when they passed the short stop position and I had to send Christian back to second.

A great game tonight and even better given the results.  Christian had a great game and I was very proud of how hard he has prepared this year and at how well he is playing.  Of course, like I told him before the game, I am very proud of him and I love him regardless of the outcome of the game.

CC