Play ball!

Well, late February means one thing in Texas, at least for the Costello family these days: baseball!! Yes, we had opening day on Saturday, though it was rather chilly. Both the boys were playing though happily not at the same time. We had a hectic morning in any case getting both to the park having pictures taken, and then a game for the Aggies at 10.

In addition to being Jamie's first game of the season, it was my first game as head coach, so there were all kinds of butterflies. Jamie seems pleased that I am coach but in some ways it's less productive for him I think. With his coach last year he would have jumped off a bridge if he'd been told to. With me, he gets a little impatient with being coached, because it's criticism coming from me. It also puts him in a comfort zone, which is good of course, but Jamie in a comfort zone means being very silly. When he is in a new situation he seriously toes the line. But once he feels at home, he turns into quite a comedian. So there's a bit of behavior control going on in practice as well.

On the other hand, it is amazing to see how far he's come from this time last year. He is very good when the ball is hit straight at him, but less so when he needs to move to it. He struck out his first time up and was pretty disconsolate about it. He was in a bit of a slump at the end of last season and had started to feel that he wasn't good at hitting. The issue is actually a good one. For the most part of last Spring he was simply putting the bat out there and the ball would hit and the bat would actually snap backward. Now he is swinging harder and really following through, but is discovering it's harder to time this way.

So it was that he came up for his second at-bat. I used to complain that when he did get hits he would always do it on the last pitch (they get 4 in machine pitch), so I had to suffer through the whole at-bat desperately trying to will the bat to the ball. This time though he stepped up and rapped the first pitch in the air over the pitcher and out to second base where it dribbled into the outfield. From that point on there is a blank spot in my memory. Partially this is because as coach I am less focused on Jamie and was watching the kid who was at second. But I do know that the ball started flying around and the next thing I know parents are screaming and Jamie is getting waved around third and is heading for home. I braced for a play at the plate but none was coming. He slid in just in case and looked good doing it. He literally got mobbed in the dugout. Next time up he hit a good one but right to the pitcher who caught it, and the Aggies ended up dropping a heart-breaker 8-7.

Then we trekked over to Connor's game which was a very merry affair. The burgeoning competitiveness of Jamie's age group is fun, but it's also nice going back to the world of no score. It was also fun to see how far Connor has come. His concentration is so much better and he fielded a couple of balls and gamely slung the ball in the general direction of first base. But the big thrill was that for the first time ever Connor hit the ball pitched by the coach, and didn't need recourse to the tee. Off he went to first base, which looks an awfully long way away for such little legs! There was great cheering all around.