First Game - etc.

Well yesterday was the first game of the season. (Guess What, Hubby got the book from the coach for me YIPPEE). It was against my High School – so when I walked up to the field I almost sat on the wrong side – heck when I went to school there, there weren’t any bleachers on the visitors side so it really was a natural to just aim for the Home side. My son started at pitcher – you pitchers moms will understand, I was a little nervous for him, I’m not nearly as bad as some mom’s, but I’ve always kept score, and I think that gives me something to do besides fret about whether or not he has his stuff. He did, or at least he seemed to be doing alright, but… the strike zone (and I’m not just saying this cuz I’m the pitcher’s mommy) was about half the size it should have been, honestly anything within two inches of the edge of the plate, all white or not, he called a Ball… and this particular school is 5A and our school is actually 3A, but we play 4A so… they have 4 baseball teams (Varsity, JV, Sophomore, and Level III); we have two – they had only maybe 2 freshman on this JV team and they had 3 seniors – playing JV!!! – anyhow, these boys teed off on my kid a few times (I think there were 3 Grand Slams) – ouch. He threw 93 pitches right at 50% strikes – then he got pulled after he started walking some kids – I totally understand, I would have pulled him a lot sooner. The replacement, also a Freshman, didn’t fare all that much better – in fact worse – my kid allowed 1 Grand Slam, 12 runs, and I’m not sure how many hits / walks. The poor second kid threw 57 pitches (in less than a half inning), allowed two Grand Slams, and 16 runs – I don’t think he hit anyone though, and my kid hit at least two batters, maybe three – but these kids actually crowded the plate so tight that a couple of them had their toes touching it. My kid did hit a double, stole third, and scored one of the only two runs that his team scored. To top things off, after the game, they boys walked out and watched their bus being towed. My son says that gives a whole new meaning to “Warm up the Bus” after a butt-kicking like that.

On a sad note, I watched the news last night (and again this morning) – another kid died in a hideous car accident – right there by my old High School. One dead, six injured. I’m feeling really selfish about this, but I’ve buried enough kids lately – I hope to G-d it’s no one we know – I can’t bear another young persons funeral. We do know a lot of families up there, my daughters best friend lives up there (and is the same age as the dead girl, but we know it’s not her), we grew up there, we have a lot of family that still lives up there, friends that moved back and are raising their families there. My mom heard already this morning (from the guy at the gas station) that the kids were playing ‘chicken’ – how I hope that isn’t true, that would be so hard for the families to reconcile.

Hubby had to have a tooth pulled this morning – kept him up all night and when he went in the Dr. said that it was a cavity that had gone so deep it exposed the root, but the tooth was also a bit loose so not a good candidate for root canal. Will need to get a bridge later, but at least it’s not one that shows when he smiles.

Another baseball game this afternoon, against a rival school… I’m wondering about how the pitching will look. This school always fields four softball teams, so I’m supposing they will have a boatload of baseball as well.